


those meddling kids

by ebenroot



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M, and josie and the pussycats cause they're in a band, daichi and hinata are brothers, hinata's a little kid with another precocious crush, scooby dooby doo au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-05
Updated: 2015-10-25
Packaged: 2018-04-24 20:58:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 26,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4935130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ebenroot/pseuds/ebenroot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kuroo Tetsurou has a lot of problems: half of them being he and his band keep getting crappy gigs and the other half of them is not knowing what the 'thing' is he has between Daichi. Getting stuck in a mountain village you're supposed to perform at with a yokai terrorizing the villagers is honestly the last thing he needs right now.</p><p>or</p><p>a kurodai disguised as a scooby doo au fic. no talking dogs included.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. the backstage rage

**Author's Note:**

> gAH IM SUPPOSED TO BE DOING TRIGONOMETRY OR WORKING ON GO YE HEROES BUT THIS COMES OUT OF NOWHERE. KURODAI AND OISUGA ARE JUST KNOCKING ON MY HEART BEGGING TO BE LET OUT. I SHIP THESE TWO. I SHIP THEM HARD *FALLS OUT ON THE FLOOR*
> 
> plus, its halloween time sooooooooo
> 
> there's probably going to be things in this fic that'll make you go 'what? how does that - that shouldn't happen like that - ????????????????????????'. im sorry OTL
> 
> this is probably only going to be around five chapters or so, i hope it's not too rushed fjddfsdd
> 
> bUT HEY THE TITLE ACTUALLY MAKES SENSE WITH THE STORY FOR ONCE SO ENJOY!!!

Kuroo Tetsurou knows that if he is to grow old, he will do it with style.

He will live in a mansion far too big for only him – Western style so he could keep on his surely-to be expensive shoes – and his hair will remain intact with his head, but have that silver fox coloring. He’ll be getting plenty of action regardless of age, especially since he isn’t getting any now, and he’ll laze around living off of his fortune of being a rock and roll god.

He will _not_ be like the older gentlemen currently sitting at the bingo table, the ones that doze off every two seconds or use their dentures as castanets during Kuroo and his band’s songs. Kuroo reminds himself to fire Oikawa as their manager for booking another shitty gig; hell, Kuroo doesn’t even consider Oikawa _as_ their manager. His position is more like ‘the guy who knows a guy who knows another guy that’s looking for someone to play at *insert location here* and occasionally fucks around with their drummer’. Across the way, a woman’s teeth fall out of her mouth and into her bowl of potato salad. Charming.

They finish their set of cover songs from the 1960s to no applause, which always sets Bokuto on edge because clapping means good and no clapping means they were crap. So Bokuto is now fidgeting around on stage with probably a thousand questions shooting off in his head while Kuroo and Akaashi begin to strip down the stage and put their things away.

“Do you think we did well?” Bokuto asks no one in particular. He really means, ‘were we good? That was good, right? Was I off? They could hear us, right? What if we sucked and they secretly hate us and I did this, it’s my fault wasn’t it? _Nooooooooo_ ’, so Kuroo says a ‘yes’ in response and quickly gets off stage to leave Bokuto’s ego-stroking to Akaashi. Suga moves faster in getting his drum set dismantled and packed away since Oikawa is usually _right there_ to flirt and be a nuisance, so both of them are chilling backstage by the cases when Kuroo rounds the corner to put his own guitar away.

“You were good, Tetsu-chan!” Oikawa chirps, voice enthusiastic and at the same time a little too grating. “I bet you’re going to build a fanbase from this performance, for sure!”

Kuroo gives a dry laugh and Suga smiles pleasantly. “I’m glad we could play music for them, it’s nice for them to have a little fun evening out for dancing,” Suga says happily. Of course Suga is happy, Suga likes old people and Oikawa likes Suga. So it’s probably his fault too that they played at the senior center tonight instead of someplace like a _bar_ or somewhere else not smelling of old taffy. Kuroo pulls his guitar off and slips it inside its case, closing the buckles with a snap.

“Maybe next time we could perform at an actual venue instead of just being ‘music for Bingo Night and Senior Dancing’,” Kuroo mentions and Oikawa huffs.

“I’m busting my ass for you, Tetsu-chan. Beggars can’t be choosers.”

“You’re right, Oikawa. You’re the chooser, so _choose_ a better venue.”

Oikawa groans and buries his face in between Suga’s shoulder blades, while Suga just gives Oikawa a ‘there, there’ poke with his drumsticks and Kuroo rolls his eyes. On stage, he hears Akaashi calmly talking Bokuto down from dejection mode and ‘yes, he _is_ a rock star’ while some woman is screeching out Bingo numbers to the audience that’s hard of hearing. Kuroo clicks his teeth; at least when they played at the bowling rink they got free pizza out of it.

“I’m going to take a leak really quick. Are you still up for burgers after this?” he asks Suga, since Oikawa will just tag along anyways whether he wants him to go or not.

“Sure, I’m down.”

“Didn’t you guys eat burgers yesterday? Kou-chan, you need to watch your figures. I don’t want to manage a fat boy band,” Oikawa says obnoxiously and pinches at Suga’s non-existent baby fat around around his midsection.

“Shut up, my figure is fine,” Suga says with his cheeks puffing in annoyance and Oikawa nuzzles the top of his head into Suga’s shoulder.

“Well, I _do_ like your hips-” Kuroo’s brain immediately shuts down any way of hearing what Oikawa is about to say next and he turns on his heel, briskly walking away from the weird ‘thing’ that is Suga and Oikawa and to the nearest bathroom. They’ll probably be going at it during their burger time too; Suga’s a notorious tease and likes to build as must sexual tension as possible before Bokuto blurts at them to ‘get a fucking room already’. Which is funny since Bokuto and Akaashi’s relationship consists of Bokuto’s awkward pick-up lines he hopes Akaashi doesn’t remember him using since they were so mortifying the first time around.

Kuroo does his business, washes up, checks his messy fringe that he’s given up on straightening forever, and exits the bathroom to collide with a sturdy wall. A few seconds later, Kuroo realizes it’s not a wall, but a lost looking Sawamura Daichi.

Daichi grunts on impact and straightens his jacket that gets pushed askew on his shoulder, looking at Kuroo with a frown. Kuroo smiles in return and sticks his hands in his pocket.

“Sawamura,” he greets.

“Kuroo,” Daichi responds back courteously.

“I’m sad that you missed our set. Unless you’re here to bond with people your mental age and play Bingo,” Kuroo suggests and Daichi scoffs.

“For your information, I’m here to get my brother. I know he’s here so just tell me now.”

Kuroo blinks and gestures to the Bingo tables. “I’m sure you’ve noticed by now, Sawamura, but we’re in a _senior center_. There aren’t any six year olds in senior centers,” Kuroo said clearly and Daichi huffs. He runs a nervous hand through his hair as his eyes dart around worriedly while Kuroo scratches the back of his warm neck nonchalantly. “If you want, I can help you look for him-”

“I can’t believe you guys let him out of your sight!” Daichi snaps and Kuroo raises his hands in defense.

“Well it’s not our fault that he thinks we’re so cool! Which we are, by the way.”

“Yes, a band called ‘Fishbones’ is the _epitome_ of cool,” Daichi says off-handedly.

“We’re actually called ‘Hooters’ now. Bokuto changed it last week.”

“You probably change band names more than you change your own underwear.”

“Oh-ho, are you curious about what underwear I’m wearing, Sawamura?” Kuroo purrs and Daichi doesn’t dignify him with a response. Though, Kuroo sees that the tips of Daichi’s ears are pink, and knows that he has managed to land a chink in the (usually) unflappable Daichi’s armor. Daichi grips Kuroo’s wrist, hard enough to accidentally twist it off.

“Just shut up and help me find my baby brother.”

“I am at your whim,” Kuroo says in a grave voice and Daichi’s ears get redder.

Kuroo doesn’t know what the ‘thing’ is he has with Daichi. It usually consists of banter back and forth, blushing faces and maybe Bokuto screaming at them to get a room and they’ll scream at him to shut up. Daichi _is_ good looking by normal standards. He has a cute smile and a deep voice, with broad muscles and sturdy thighs that Kuroo may have had a few wet dreams about. Kuroo likes it when Daichi blushes, when Daichi shows how colorful his vocabulary can be to counter Kuroo’s teasing, when Daichi smiles in spite of himself because what Kuroo had said was actually pretty funny. Kuroo’s not sure if he's in love with Daichi as a whole just yet, or if he blindly pines for him in the way Bokuto pines for Akaashi. He likes this ‘thing’ that’s between them, that’s the only thing he’s certain of 100%.

Daichi drags him all around the senior center like he’s a pet that needs to be watched, asking little old ladies if they’ve seen a six-year old before politely thanking them for their troubles or shaking off wrinkly hands reaching to cup a feel of his biceps and comment what a ‘strong young man’ he is.

“Sawamura, you’re so _popular_ ,” Kuroo coos after a lady gives Daichi’s cheek a well-natured pinch and goes on her way to the chess table. Daichi scowls at him and continues to tug him down the hallway to the quiet and secluded reading room. Daichi pokes his head around the plants, gnawing on his lower lip. Kuroo likes that too, that ‘lip thing’. Daichi’s lips look a little chapped, yet soft. Kinda like Daichi, firm and intimidating, but also a puddle of goo.

Kuroo nudges Daichi’s arm and points over to a large chair. “I found your baby brother,” Kuroo says, his finger directing Daichi’s eyes to little feet behind the chair along with candy wrappers. Daichi curses under his breath and finally releases his grip on Kuroo to move the chair back. Shoyou is sprawled out on his back with chocolate covering his mouth and hands and candy wrappers scattered over his small figure. Shoyou looks like he’s about to vomit and Daichi looks like he’s about to blow a gasket, so Kuroo cautiously begins to step closer to the exit.

“Shoyou, are you okay?” Daichi asks through gritting teeth.

“. . .My tummy hurts~” Shoyou whines, completely miserable and then hiccups. He makes an attempt to sit up, but flops back down on his back. Daichi reaches and picks some foil wrappers out of Shoyou’s wild hair.

“Where did you get this candy?”

“Those old ladies kept giving me some. Daichi, I think I’m dying.”

“You’re not dying, Shoyou.”

“Are you sure?” Shoyou asks meekly and Daichi wraps his arms around his brother to pull him into his grasp. Some wrappers fall off of Shoyou as he wraps his arms around Daichi’s neck and snuggles into his big brother’s comforting embrace. Daichi gives soothing little pats and rubs, walking over to Kuroo with a clear message of ‘I’m going to _murder you_ ’ in his eyes. Kuroo steps back and hits the doorframe with his shoulder.

“He snuck into _our_ van when we came to ask you if you wanted to come along. So if we want to point fingers here-”

“Don’t start,” Daichi cuts off and Shoyou hiccups. Daichi pushes past Kuroo and Kuroo follows him, looking at Shoyou’s eyes scrunched up tight in pain. Poor kid, he usually is all smiles and sunshine and ‘too sweet for his own good’. Kuroo feels a little bit of guilt that Shoyou wound up like this, especially since he could have just called Daichi a whole lot earlier instead of Suga most likely alerting Daichi his brother is with them.

When they enter the main hall, Bingo is still going in full swing and the band is all packed up. Suga waves them over to the door where Bokuto is putting away the last case into his beat-up van, eyes filling with worry when he notices Shoyou is half-slumped over Daichi’s shoulder. “What happened to him?” Suga asks and Daichi sighs.

“Some ladies gave him too much candy. I’ve got to clean him up before my Mom gets home and sees him like this,” Daichi says and turns to Bokuto, eyebrows in a hard line. “Just so you know, he’s banned from coming to your shows.”

Bokuto and Shoyou whimper, Shoyou moreso from the tummy-ache. “For how long?” Shoyou asks.

“A thousand years,” Daichi says simply and Shoyou whines louder, ceasing when he feels his stomach gurgle uncomfortably. Bokuto reaches out and gives a good natured ruffle of Shoyou’s hair.

“Get better, little dude. I’ll see you in a thousand years,” Bokuto says with a heavy sigh and Shoyou sniffles.

“But Bokuto-nii-”

“Don’t make this harder for me, Shoyou!” Bokuto cries and Akaashi just places a hand to the side of his temple while Daichi adjusts his grip on his brother. He says his quick goodbyes and carries away a hiccupping, sniffling and groaning Shoyou to his car. Kuroo sighs and looks at Bokuto’s own pained face.

“He wouldn’t be banned for ‘a thousand years’ if you didn’t smuggle him into your van,” Kuroo says sharply and Bokuto throws his hands up in the air.

“He’s our groupie! What band _doesn’t_ have groupies at a show?!” Bokuto exclaims and Akaashi takes a hold of his bass.

“I’ll see you guys later-”

“E-Eh?! W-Wait, Akaashi! You’re not going to come with us to get burgers?” Bokuto sputters out. Akaashi blinks, eyelids heavy and tired.

“No. I’m going home.”

“But _why???_ ”

“Because that’s where my stuff is, Bokuto-san,” Akaashi deadpans and pats him on the shoulder. He waves goodbye to the others and then heads to his car, Bokuto watching him go like a rejected puppy. The remaining four stand in the cold, Akaashi’s car revving up and driving out of the parking lot speedily towards home. Oikawa lazily throws his arms around Suga and puts all of his weight on him, tucking his chin into the crook of Suga’s neck.

“Ne, Kou-chan. Maybe you and I can-”

“No!” Suga blurts out and grips a determined fist. “I want burgers! Come on, you two!” Suga says and opens the door to Bokuto’s van to climb in. Oikawa pouts, but dutifully follows Suga inside the van as well. Kuroo walks over and slaps a hand on Bokuto’s shoulder, guiding his stiff body towards the driver’s seat.

“Maybe next time, Bro-kuto,” Kuroo says with a lazy smile and all Bokuto can do is groan.

* * *

Just as Kuroo thought, Oikawa and Suga flirt with each other over shakes and burgers across the table in the four’s shared booth. It would be different if Oikawa and Suga were dating; Kuroo has no problem with his bandmates dating and being happy. It’s when Oikawa and Suga are in a constant flux of ‘will they, won’t they, they are, they aren’t, we’re friends, we’re friends with benefits, we're just doing business, etc.’, _that’s_ when it grates on Kuroo’s nerves.

He supposes that it could be worse; Akaashi could be here and Bokuto will devote all his time to getting Akaashi to laugh at a punny joke instead of feeling awkward about Oikawa and Suga being disgustingly sappy together like Kuroo is now.

“So, when do you think we’ll be famous enough to _not_ have to share a tray of fries?” Bokuto asks and Kuroo shrugs.

“When we become a real band,” Kuroo says and nibbles on a french fry that’s gone soggy.

“We _are_ a real band,” Suga perks from tasting some of Oikawa’s milkshake. (Indirect kissing? _Really?_ ).

“ _Real_ bands do not play bowling alleys, senior centers and grand openings of hardware stores.”

Oikawa leans back with his jaw hanging like Kuroo just _personally_ attacked him. “Tetsu-chan, those were good gigs! Bands have to start somewhere, you know. Rome wasn’t built in a day.”

“Yeah, it’s taking thousands of years to be built. Which is how long it’s going to take to become a real band if we keep getting shitty gigs!” Kuroo complains and Oikawa huffs, resting his chin in the palm of his hand.

“Maybe it wouldn’t take so long if you guys didn’t suck so hard,” Oikawa says with his ‘I love you, that’s why I can be brutally honest with you’ tone. Bokuto slams a fist on the table, narrowly knocking over his milkshake in the process of making a point.

“We do _not_ suck!”

“You’re right. Kou-chan and Akaashi-san are good and _you two_ suck,” Oikawa rephrases and smiles at Suga. “You should let me be your manager when you two leave this band.”

“You’re not even a good manager now,” Suga says and Oikawa turns his nose up. He pulls his cell-phone out from his messenger bag (and _not_ manpurse like Kuroo and Bokuto crudely dubbed it) and holds it to his ear.

“Hello? Yes? You’re in need of an _awesome_ band to play for you?” Oikawa says into it with enthusiasm and Kuroo sighs.

“Your phone didn’t even ring.”

“There’s a thing called ‘ _vibrate settings_ ’, Tetsu-chan.”

“We should let the waitress know you’re trying to serve us some bullshit.”

“ _Point is_ , I’m trying! It’s the thought that counts, right Kou-chan?” Oikawa asks and Suga sighs.

“Yeah, we just need to work on making ourselves more marketable or something. Oikawa’s doing the best that he can.”

“The things you say to stroke his ego,” Kuroo says with a shameful shake of his head and Suga shrugs.

“I stroke his big ego plenty enough already,” he says offhandedly and drinks from his shake. Kuroo groans loudly, Bokuto’s face scrunches up, and Oikawa just laughs and shoots the two across from them a wink and peace sign.

* * *

 

* * *

The summer heat _really_ isn’t good for Kuroo’s hair. It gets super frizzy and even more of a hot mess than it normally is. Plus, lugging his acoustic guitar around is making him sweat more than wanted. He thought that maybe shorts and the muscle shirt will keep him cool, but unfortunately the sun beating down on his bare skin isn’t very appealing now.

He grunts as he drops into a chair in front of a familiar coffee shop, relishing the shade given by the canopy above his head. Kuroo then takes his guitar out of its case and tosses some coin inside the case straight from his beaten up wallet. He gives the guitar a few test strums with his pick and then settles into a mellow guitar groove. People were out in the shopping district in spite of the heat, some momentarily pausing to watch Kuroo play and listen, before moving onto the next shop or at least dropping some money into his case. It’s easier to make tips on Saturday, more people are out and Kuroo can be out for as long as he wants.

The door to the coffee shop opens with a jingle, Kuroo seeing out of the corner of his eye Daichi looking at him with a tired expression and his lips in a frown. Kuroo pauses momentarily and gives a shocked look, a hand to his chest. “Sawamura! What a surprise to find you here! I guess you _do_ want to be my groupie, huh?” Kuroo says haughtily and Daichi crosses his arms.

“Yes, it’s a major surprise to see me at _my job_. Kuroo, you know Ukai doesn’t like you loitering around here. Why do you always come up here whenever _I’m_ at work so he can yell at me to yell at you to leave?”

“I’m indulging you and giving you something actually good to listen to instead of that hipster garbage on the radio in your café. I know you’re a secret fanboy of my music, Sawamura. It’s okay to admit it,” Kuroo says and bats his eyelashes at Daichi all dreamy like. Daichi ignores him and leans against the wall, the strap of his red apron slipping off his broad shoulder.

“He’s going to call the police on you if you don’t leave,” Daichi says and Kuroo pouts.

“But I’m not in the way or anything. If I order like, a water or something, can I stay?”

“I can’t believe you just asked me that,” Daichi says and shakes his head like he’s gone wrong somewhere in his life. Probably when he first met Kuroo in elementary and offered to share his animal crackers. He starts to head back into the café, but Kuroo reaches out a hand and grabs at his wrist to get him to stop. “What is it?” Daichi asks and Kuroo blows a loose strand of hair out of his face and back into the messy fringe.

“You wanna sit here and hang out?” Kuroo asks ever so casually and his voice cracking only a smidge.

"What, are you lonely without Bokuto hooting next to you?" Daichi asks with a teasing smile and Kuroo rolls his eyes. “I’m at work, Kuroo. I can't hang out right now.”

“What if you say you’re taking a break?”

“My break is in fifteen more minutes and _you_ need to leave in the next five before Ukai calls the cops.”

“What a butthole. No wonder Shoyou thinks he’s the ‘Leader of the Undead’ and has you joining his ranks of coffee slinging zombies.”

“That was you and Bokuto that put that stupid idea in his head in the first place,” Daichi says and pulls his wrist free. “I got to go, just try not to get arrested at my work,” Daichi says warmly and Kuroo’s lower lip quivers, pathetic puppy whimpers echoing in his throat. “That doesn’t work on me. I have a baby brother, remember?”

“Is Shoyou feeling better? He didn’t explode of chocolate, right?” Kuroo asks and Daichi smiles.

“He’s better. My mom lifted the ‘thousand year ban’, by the way. But if Shoyou ever comes home from you guys watching him in a bad condition, she’s coming after _all of you_.”

Kuroo knew where Daichi gets his scary-as-hell nature from, so he takes the threat to heart. “Okay, stop stalling me from leaving to go back to work,” Daichi says and Kuroo places a hand to his chest.

“Me? Stalling? You? Why that’s ridiiiiiiiiicuuuuuuuuu-”

“Sawamura!”

Daichi and Kuroo jump at the same time, Ukai suddenly right behind Daichi and glaring hard at the both of them. There’s already a lit cigarette hanging from his lips, and from the looks of it it’s probably been burning for a while. “I thought I told you to get rid of him while I go for my break! Tell your boyfriend he either buys something or packs up and leave!”

Daichi’s face flushes red immediately and Kuroo tilts his head to the side.

“Eh? But we haven’t even held hands yet,” Kuroo says and Daichi shoots him a look.

“Quiet!” Daichi barks and turns back to his boss to bow his head. “He’s not my boyfriend and he’s leaving right now, Sir,” Daichi says with a red face. Ukai scoffs and stubs out the last remaining bit of his cigarette.

“Could have fooled me with how big you were grinning,” Ukai says and Daichi just turns redder. Kuroo relishes the expression on Daichi’s face for a few moments as Ukai goes back inside his café, adding this expression to his ever growing list of things he likes about Daichi. Daichi turns to Kuroo, trying to fight the blush down from his cheeks.

“You heard the man. Beat it.”

“That’s no way to talk to your _boyfriend_.”

“We are _not_ dating. Get up, come on.”

“But _Daiiiichhiiiiii_ -”

“Oh my god, Kuroo, go away! You’re like an annoying stray cat or something!”

Kuroo raises his hands up like they’re paws. “Meowww~” he purrs and Daichi huffs in frustration. Kuroo smiles and begins to pack away his guitar. “Alright, alright. I’m going to go be an ‘annoying stray cat’ elsewhere. This is the last you’ll see of Kuroo Tetsurou for today. I’m packing my guitar up right now. Now I’m buckling it shut and taking it in my right hand. Look, I’m taking my right foot to turn and walk away from you, Sawamura. Now I’m taking my left foot-”

Daichi storms over and begins to shove Kuroo down the sidewalk himself. “Wait! Wait! Let me use the bathroom first!” Kuroo whines and turns abruptly, Daichi’s hands against his back sliding around to wrap around Kuroo’s midsection. Kuroo pauses and feels his throat go dry just as Daichi’s eyes stare up at him, momentarily frozen in place. Kuroo’s about a head taller than Daichi, but he never really notices until they stand close together like this (which was usually _never_ ). Daichi’s eyes look browner from this angle, big and round and easy to get sucked into like Shoyou’s. Kuroo’s sweating even more now for some reason, the sun not all to blame this time around.

“. . .So. . .um. . .listen, if the next gig isn’t at a crappy venue or on a day you work. . .do. . .do you think-”

“Sawamura!”

Daichi makes an unflattering squeak and jumps away from Kuroo like he’s on fire. “Coming!” Daichi yelps and briskly walks back into the café, Ukai watching his employee go before he turns to Kuroo with a frown.

“‘Not my boyfriend’, tch!” Ukai grumbles and closes the door shut with the bell jingling angry. Kuroo licks his suddenly dry lips and takes a shaky step away from the café. He then looks up and squints his eyes at the blistering sun.

“Fuck my life.”

* * *

It’s Thursday when Oikawa bounds into Kuroo’s place during their band practice, smiling a shit-eating grin. It’s not the usual fake smiles he throws at everyone or the ‘afterglow of almost having sex with Suga’ smiles, so Kuroo is a little unnerved cause why is Oikawa so _happy_?

“Guess what?” Oikawa asks to no one in particular, rocking backwards and forwards on the heels of his shoes.

“What is it?” Suga asks and Oikawa turns to him.

“Come on! Guess first!”

“You’re resigning as our manager,” Kuroo says and Oikawa makes a ‘bzzz’ noise with his mouth, seeing the more familiar venomous smile Oikawa shoots him and puts Kuroo slightly at ease that they didn’t get some fake Oikawa waltzing into band practice.

“Did you catch Chlamydia? Don’t pass it on to Suga,” Bokuto says with fake concern. Oikawa makes a ‘bzzz’ noise and also adds a ‘fuck you’ on the end.

“Did you magically get Suga pregnant?” Akaashi asks with a straight face and Bokuto breaks out laughing while Suga places a surprised hand to his face.

“I hope you’ll make an honest man out of me, _Tooru-chan_ ,” Suga says and Oikawa grits his teeth.

“We’re not sleeping with each other! I’m just going to tell you before either of you say something else stupid that’ll make me want to kill you,” Oikawa says and sucks in a dramatic breath. “So, there’s a festival going on in a little mountain village this weekend on Sunday. And they were in need of musical entertainment so, being the _amazing_ manager that I am, I landed you a gig! We arrive on Friday for stage practice, get to play at a festival, get paid well, and get to enjoy the view of a mountain village away from the hustle of the city! How’s _that_ , Tetsurou?”

Whoa, Oikawa must be hella serious to not use ‘Tetsu-chan’. Suga nods his head, looking between the other members of the band. “It sounds like fun, I like festivals!” Suga says with a grin and Kuroo nods his head. Ah, another gig with the ulterior motive of Oikawa impressing Suga and getting into his pants. Bokuto shrugs and so does Akaashi, on board with whatever gig it’ll be. Kuroo gives an acknowledging grunt; festivals are cool and fun and it’ll be nice to go on a little mini-vacation in the mountains.

He drops down in the sofa chair with the cushion all smashed in from one too many performances for an invisible audience, reaching into his pocket to pull out his cell phone. “Let me check if Sawamura can come too,” Kuroo says and he hears someone snort, probably Bokuto or Oikawa. Kuroo ignores them and raises his phone to his ear, figuring that Daichi must be home at least from work. The dial tone rings and he hears the phone answer, Daichi giving a breathy sigh into the phone that makes the hair on the back of Kuroo’s neck stand on end.

“ _Hello?_ ”

“Sawamura, good evening,” Kuroo greets.

“ _Good evening, Kuroo-san,_ " Daichi drawls and Kuroo smirks. " _Aren’t you supposed to be practicing right now?_ ”

“We’re allowed to take breaks, aren’t we?”

“ _Okay, what is it?_ ”

“So, Oikawa didn’t fuck up on planning a gig for us! We’re going to play a festival in this mountain village this weekend and, you know, I was wondering if maybe you and Shoyou would be our honorary groupies for the event,” Kuroo says, a lump in his throat catching for a mild second.

“ _I’m not your groupie, Kuroo. Besides, I have to work. And if Shoyou goes, then my mom has to go to watch him. I don’t think having a middle-aged woman as one of your groupies will make your band seem ‘cool’._ ”

“She doesn’t trust us to take care of him?”

“ _Maybe if you guys were close by just in case she needed to drive over, take Shoyou off your hands and probably kick your ass for mistreating her kid. But the mountains are a different story. Sorry._ ”

“O-Oh, it’s alright! You know, you’re just missing out on a sick gig. We’ll probably perform on a float or something,” Kuroo says and Oikawa crosses his arms.

“I didn’t say anything about a float-”

“Yeah, we’re going to be on a float. Lots of confetti and people dancing in costumes to our music. The whole nine yards,” Kuroo continues anyways and Daichi hums.

“ _Take pictures for me so I’ll know whether you’re lying_.”

“Pft, why would _I_ lie to impress you?” Kuroo asks.

“ _I didn’t say you were lying to impress me in the first_ place.”

Well, Kuroo waltzed right into that one. He gives a shaky laugh and runs a hand through his hair. “Well, good. Cause, you know, I wasn’t. Trying to impress you. Why would I do that? Pft.”

“ _I don’t know, why **would** you lie to impress me?_”

“I asked you first.”

“ _I asked you second_.”

“If you guys are done popping phone boners for each other, we got to get back to practice!” Oikawa shouts loud enough that Daichi surely is able to hear, Kuroo’s cheeks flushing red. Both his and Daichi’s screech of ‘shut up!’ are perfectly synced and Kuroo’s face grows hot.

“ _Right, I’m going to leave you to practice. Give Oikawa a punch for me._ ”

“Your wish is my command,” Kuroo says. He hears Daichi mumble a ‘goodbye’, quiet and shy and he does the same, small smile hanging on his lips. Kuroo rises to his feet as Oikawa sighs.

“Honestly, Tetsu-chan, you two slobber over each other more than Makki and Matsun do-”

Kuroo promptly socks Oikawa in the gut and Oikawa keels over, dropping to his knees and burying his face in the cushions of the couch to scream.

“Sawamura says ‘hi’.”

* * *

Bokuto’s old van is large, has dubious stains in the upholstery and residue of snacks from _forever_ ago stuck in the nooks and crannies, and only one working radio station that broadcasted _weather_. But Bokuto loves this van with a _passion_. Kuroo’s sure if Bokuto made a list of things he loves a whole lot, it’ll probably be his van, Akaashi, and rock n’ roll. And maybe owls and yakuniku follow afterwards or something.

The path to the village is a long one and though Kuroo would have preferred to just drive himself up to the mountains or maybe catch a ride with Suga in his nicer car with air-conditioning, Bokuto insisted that all of them traveling together in the van will save gas money. It was probably just a thinly-veiled attempt at getting Akaashi to ride with him in the van for once, an attempt that unfortunately worked.

Bokuto’s currently banging his hands against the steering wheel and singing along to a rock song playing through Suga’s iPod connected to his speakers. Akaashi is riding shotgun (since Bokuto was _not_ going to pass up Akaashi riding next to him for four hours) and Oikawa and Suga are in the backseat bench with their luggage. Kuroo gets stuck with the ‘band seat’, aka the back section of Bokuto’s van that houses the instruments and equipment and other things that decide to drift and fall on Kuroo whenever Bokuto makes a sharp turn or goes up and down an incline.

Kuroo curses under his breath and pulls the neck of his shirt out to cool his sweating skin. It’s stuffy and hot back here and the barely working air-conditioning doesn’t feel like it's reaching him at all. He kicks a boot on some luggage and slouches in his seat, only hoping that the next hour goes by quick and he can get some fresh ‘mountain village air’. Kuroo runs a hand through his sweating hair and glances down at the case his foot is resting on, quirking an eyebrow when he sees. . .a straw sticking out a hole in the side.

A straw??

Kuroo lifts his foot up and pulls on the straw, finding that whatever is inside didn’t want to let go. He frowns and undoes the front buckles on the case and flips the top open, eyes widening at what’s inside. Shoyou is scrunched up in a fetal position with the straw in between his lips, looking up at Kuroo and blinking with innocent big eyes.

“Are we at the gig yet?” he asks and Kuroo blinks. Daichi is going to _kill_ him.


	2. tangle with the tengu

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the gang arrives to the village, meets the locals, and the monster makes their debut

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahhhh thank you so much for all of the comments and kudos so far :'')
> 
> this is probably going to be the ONLY original chapter title because i wanted each chapter title to sound like an episode of scooby doo and i am very uncreative OTL so titles are scooby doo episodes (except this one)

“I’m very concerned, Bokuto-san. This,” Akaashi gestures to Shoyou sitting in the case playing with the straw, “this is reaching creepy child abductor levels.”

“I didn’t abduct him! He just. . .wound up in the case,” Bokuto says weakly and everyone groans. They made a temporary stop just fifty miles away from the village after Kuroo discovers Shoyou. Suga is currently dialing Daichi’s cell phone since Suga is Daichi’s dear childhood friend and has a lower percentage of getting chewed the hell out. Bokuto wrings his hands through his hair and turns to Akaashi dramatically. “Okay, so I smuggled him in! But _guys_. Daichi’s mom and Shoyou live _just down the street_ from me! He’s a freaking ninja! He just slips away from his mom and winds up at my place and Daichi’s mom _kinda_ likes me. I mean, I’m not a rock star that promotes drugs or anything bad, so I’m a positive role model for Shoyou! And he looked so bummed out when I told him he couldn’t go! Those _eyes!_ _Those eyes!_ ”

“And you _didn’t_ think his mom would notice that Shoyou’s missing from home? Or Daichi might check on him?” Oikawa asks incredulously.

“Mommy went to work and so did Daichi, so Nekomata was supposed to watch me until Daichi got back,” Shoyou explains and flops back down in the case, sticking his untied shoes up in the air to make circles. Well, Nekomata likes to drink in excess any hour of the day, so there’s probably a chance he didn’t even _realize_ Shoyou isn’t home. Kuroo pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs. They _should_ take Shoyou back right now, but that’s another four hours going back home and then _another_ four hours to get back to the village. Bokuto’s van has been doing that sputtering noise that sounds like it’ll stop running for good, and the last thing he wants is to get stranded.

Suga puts his phone away and clasps his hands together.

“Okay, good news! Daichi’s not going to tell his mother that Bokuto abducted her child again and he’s going to come to the village to pick Shoyou up after work and tell Nekomata to go back home. He also said he’s going to wring your neck, Bokuto and Kuroo, so just be prepared,” Suga says with a smile and Bokuto whimpers while Kuroo squawks.

“Why am _I_ getting punished too?!”

“Cause,” Suga pauses like he’s trying to remember Daichi’s exact words, “Because ‘this is _your_ band and Bokuto is _your_ stupid guitarist’. Or something like that,” Suga says with a handwave and Kuroo groans. Oikawa looks at his watch on his wrist and sighs.

“We have to get to the village, we’re supposed to check in with the village chief soon about our accommodations,” Oikawa says and everyone nods their heads. Oikawa then turns to the case that Shoyou is lying in. “You got to get out of that case, Sho-chan.”

“It’s comfy, Oikawa-nii.”

“But I don’t want _my_ neck wrung by your angry big brother, Sho-chan.”

Shoyou sighs and climbs out of the case, Oikawa helping him out of the van and holds onto his hand. “You’re sitting up with us. I guess that means we’ll have to move the rest of the luggage back with Tetsu-chan!” Oikawa says with a smile and Kuroo huffs.

“ _Yippee_ ,” Kuroo deadpans and Oikawa leads Shoyou around the side with Akaashi and Suga following after. Kuroo steps close to Bokuto still sulking in his spot, a dead glare in his eye.

“After Daichi wrings our necks, I’m wringing yours for _extra_ measure.”

* * *

 

Karasuno Village is nestled amongst the trees and is near a large open plane of space. The mountains in the background frame the old and weather-beaten buildings quite nicely, the village looking like it came straight from a postcard. There’s flags and lanterns hanging from the buildings and oil lamp posts, people entering and exiting stalls carrying about their daily business. Kuroo feels like he transported back in time, looking at the large kitsune statue in the center of the village square smiling down at him slyly.

“Can I get a souvenir, Kuroo?” Shoyou asks and Kuroo looks down at the five-year old hugging his leg and looking up at him with _those eyes_. Kuroo looks away quick and scratches the back of his neck.

“Maybe after we get paid, I’ll buy something and bring it back for you. Daichi too.”

Shoyou hums. “What about now?”

“No.”

“Ehhh? _Whyyyy?_ ”

“Your brother is going to come get you anyways. You can wait until we get back after the gig,” Kuroo says firmly and Shoyou releases his hold of Kuroo’s leg. Shoyou totters over to Oikawa’s leg and hugs him tight.

“Oikawa-nii! Let’s get souvenirs!” Shoyou chirps happily and Oikawa’s face brightens with a genuine smile.

“Sure! Let’s go into that stall over there, Shoyou. Coming, Kou-chan?” Oikawa asks Suga while Kuroo looks on from afar, feeling like he’s been stabbed in the back. Bokuto approaches Kuroo, slightly wary just in case Kuroo wants to get a leg up on Daichi and wring his neck out now.

“Don’t look so down, dude. He’s _five_ ,” Bokuto says and Kuroo sighs.

“Sometimes, I think he doesn’t like me. For one thing, how come he doesn’t call me Kuroo- _nii_ like he does with you and Oikawa?”

“He doesn’t say ‘Suga-nii’ or ‘Akaashi-nii’ either,” Bokuto points out and Kuroo shrugs.

“Shoyou calls Suga by his first name, so that doesn’t count. And I think he’s kind of scared of Akaashi so there’s that.”

“Why do you think Shoyou’s scared of Akaashi? He’s _perfect_ ,” Bokuto gushes and Kuroo just rolls his eyes. The air is fresh here and there’s a nice cool breeze blowing over his skin in spite of the sun beating down overhead. He sees Oikawa and Shoyou disappear into some tacky shack with hanging charms, and then beckons Suga and Akaashi over.

“Come on, let’s find the village chief so we can find out where we’re staying,” Kuroo says and everyone gives a nod of the head, heading down the dirt road north. One thing’s for sure, these people are _really_ into this festival. There’s decorations on every single store and lights in all the trees. Kuroo doesn’t even know what the festival is _for_ , really. It’s towards the end of summer and Tanabata came and went. He can’t think of any holidays dealing with kitsunes right now either.

“Oi! Hey! You!” someone screams and makes the four jump. There’s a guy (a kid? He’s kind of small, Kuroo can’t tell) jumping from behind his booth and waving his hands. “Hey! Hey!” he shouts and gets from behind his booth, approaching them with a big grin and his hand outstretched to grip Kuroo’s hand firm and _tight_. “You’re from the city, aren’t ya? That city band Take-chan hired?” he asks in quick-fire succession.

“Yeah. Is, er, ‘Take-chan’ the village chief?” Suga asks and the man nods his head, releasing his iron grip on Kuroo’s hand to shake Suga’s. Suga doesn’t looked fazed in the slightest and Kuroo can see Suga’s hand _literally_ turning red from being squeezed so tight. He wonders if there is _anything_ that can actually knock Suga down a few pegs or if he is just scarily superhuman.

“Name’s Nishinoya Yuu. Everyone calls me Noya! I run the inn and the kitsune mask booth for the festival! Nice to meet ya!” Noya says and adjusts the headband around his head. “So! Take-chan is currently checking in with some of the festival vendors, but I can show you to your rooms!” Noya beams and Kuroo wonders if Noya is just shouting cause it’s loud outside or if that’s just his voice. He gestures a hand towards the inn building. “Follow me,” Noya says and turns on the heel of his sandals to step past his kitsune mask booth and enter the inn’s lobby.

Everyone follows Noya inside, looking around at the inn’s wooden walls adorned with wood block paintings and kabuki masks. It gives a rustic feel, like it’s permanently trapped in the past much like the rest of this village. There’s not speck of dust as Kuroo runs his fingertips over the antique bookcase near the stairs Noya treks up. He’s talking about the history of the village and is chattering non-stop about how his great-great-great-great grandfather ran the inn until his great-great-great grandfather took over and so on and so forth until it was passed onto him. Kuroo’s not sure if anyone is really listening, maybe Suga since he’s nodding his head like he is. Akaashi’s eyes are taking in everything that he sees and the drive up to the mountains looks like it’s taking its toll on Bokuto since he almost trips on his own feet.

_Daichi would love this_ , Kuroo thinks; he always likes things with sentimental value, the sap that he is. Noya opens up one room with a key he takes off a large ring that holds many. “So, this room and the room next door is all yours. Your manager told Take-chan about the sleeping arrangements, so there’s three futons in this room and the next room has two. Narita runs the bathouse down the roads, so I’ll ask him about when you can head over and get cleaned up,” Noya explains, pushing open the door so everyone could get a look.

The room is fairly large and there’s three futons already rolled out for them, along with the closet open and ready to hold some luggage. There’s a painting of cherry blossoms and the open window is letting in a cool breeze. “Also, if you guys are hungry, you can head over to Ennoshita’s stall down the road. He makes _great_ takoyaki and katsudon,” Noya says.

“Did you say takoyaki?” Suddenly, Bokuto isn’t tired anymore and he’s looking at Noya with hungry eyes. Noya nods his head and juts a thumb over his shoulder.

“His place is down the roads heading towards Take-chan’s place. You’ll know you’re close from the smell of meat grilling,” Noya says and Bokuto is barreling down the steps and out the door faster than Kuroo and the others can get out of the way. Akaashi clicks his tongue and walks into the room to flop down face first on the futon in the corner. Suga smiles at their bassist and gives a tilt of the head inside.

“I’m going to rest too. Let Oikawa know I’m in this room if you see him outside,” Suga says and Kuroo nods his head. He’ll wrangle Oikawa and Bokuto in bringing their bags up later; frankly, he’s starving too. Kuroo closes the door shut when Suga walks inside and flops down onto the futon in the middle. Noya hands him the two keys for the rooms and sticks the rest of the keys in the pocket of his baggy pants.

“I’ll phone up Take-chan to let him know you guys made it up here. Feel free to look around in the meantime and enjoy the village!” Noya grins and Kuroo nods his head.

“What kind of festival is this anyways?”

“Eh? You don’t know? It’s the Karasuno Fox Festival! There’s actually a legend based off it, you wanna hear it?”

Kuroo doesn’t, but Noya’s going to tell him anyways. Noya nudges Kuroo back down the stairs and to the bookcase, and he pulls out a large red book with gold trimming and yellow pages. Noya hands the book to Kuroo, who takes it and almost drops it from how _heavy_ it actually is. “In that book is all the fables and stories recorded from my great-great-great-great- _great_ grandad! It’s some good reading if you can’t fall asleep, trust me!”

“Right,” Kuroo mutters and tucks the book under his arm. Noya gives a bow and wave and ‘Welcome to Karasuno!’ before he scurries off to the room behind the check-in counter. Kuroo looks at the book and then places it on the nearby coffee table, sticking his hands in his pocket and promptly strolls out of the inn. He’ll catch up on reading _after_ some food.

* * *

 

Kuroo walks down the street towards the large home sitting on a grassy hill he figures is the village chief’s and shortly, he smells some meat cooking that makes his stomach growl in want and mouth water in anticipation. The smell is coming from a food stall on the right, Kuroo seeing that Bokuto and also Oikawa and Shoyou were all at the stools watching a man behind the counter cook up some vegetables and meat on the flattop. Kuroo pulls up a stool next to Shoyou, the little boy wearing a white kitsune mask atop his orange hair.

“I can’t believe you bought that for him,” Kuroo says and Oikawa smiles.

“I’m Sho-chan’s favorite, so I’m supposed to buy him things!” Oikawa says and Bokuto gapes.

“ _I’m_ Shoyou’s favorite! He wants to be like _me_ when he grows up, don’t you Shoyou?!”

Since Shoyou responds with a cry of amazement at the man’s skillful work and fast movements with a spatula, it’s obviously he isn’t listening at all to Oikawa and Bokuto’s argument. Kuroo rests his chin in his palm, his eyes lazily glancing over the menu and – _ooh_ _grilled mackerel_. Another man enters from a closed room in the back of the shack, looking over at Kuroo with sleepy eyes but a smile on his face.

“Ah, another visitor? What’ll you have?” he asks, pouring some water to place down in front of Kuroo. Kuroo licks his lips.

“Some of your grilled mackerel sounds good to me,” Kuroo says and the other man nods his head, checking the cooking takoyaki and gives them a quick couple of turns before he heads back into the closed room once more. The man pours some batter over the cooking vegetables and smashes it all together, turning it over and delivering a drizzle of mayo on top. “Okonomiyaki,” he says and serves it on a plate and then hands it to Oikawa’s awaiting hands. Shoyou gapes in marvel at the steaming food beside him, Oikawa breathing in the smell and licking his lips hungrily. The other man enters back into the stall with some fresh mackerel to toss onto the grill.

“Can you get that takoyaki for me while I get started on this, Kinoshita?” he asks and the other man nods his head, heading to plate the cooked takoyaki and put on all the garnishes. Kuroo rubs his chin and steals a glance at the small name embroidered on the man’s apron, reading ‘ _Ennoshita_ ’ stitched in white. “It’s so exciting to have people coming from the city to our village. We haven’t been getting many tourists lately, so the festival bringing in some new customers is really good for business,” Ennoshita says with a smile.

Kinoshita hands one tray of takoyaki to Bokuto and the other to Shoyou, the boy’s eyes brightening with joy. He takes one and bites into it, his cheeks turning red and he starts squirming in his seat. “Hot, hot!” Shoyou breathes and fights to swallow down the hot food in his mouth. Kuroo quickly pushes some of his water to Shoyou and the boy takes it to guzzle some down.

“You got to wait till it cools down, Shoyou,” Kuroo says with a scolding tone and Shoyou puffs his cheeks.

“But I’m hungry _now_ ,” he says and Kuroo smiles.

“Well you can’t eat it unless you want to burn your tongue off. And I don’t need Daichi killing me cause you gave yourself a mouth burn or whatever,” Kuroo says nonchalantly. Shoyou pushes the takoyaki around in his tray with pouting lips, blowing every so often to cool it down faster.

“Ne, what’s the theme of the festival? Foxes or something?” Oikawa asks and Ennoshita nods his head.

“Take-chan, the chief of the village, suggested that we do a Fox Festival to bring in Karasuno’s prosperity. You know, they say that there’s a hidden fortune somewhere that allows the rice fields to grow rich and plentiful in Karasuno,” Ennoshita says with a wink, then laughs when Bokuto and Shoyou stare at him like he’s said they were sitting on gold. “Ah, but it’s just a legend. Something that’s in those fairy tale books Noya has at the inn.”

“The ‘Karasu’ in ‘Karasuno’ uses the kanji for crow, right? Why not do tengus or something?” Kuroo asks and Ennoshita hums, turning over the mackerel and letting the smell of it cooking go straight to Kuroo’s head.

“To be honest, Take-chan isn’t from Karasuno. He’s from another neighboring village that revered foxes, while ancestors of Karasuno believed in tengus. Nowadays, most of the people around here don’t believe in either, but it’s fun for the kids,” Ennoshita explains and gives a little handwave. “There might be a couple of old folks that still worship the karasu-tengu of Karasuno and hate that Take-chan is incorporating foxes, but that’s just them talking bad about him for sharing his culture.”

“What, he’s a bad chief or something?”

“He gets frazzled, but he’s not bad,” Ennoshita says and plates the searing mackerel onto a plate to hand to Kuroo. “You all get these meals free since you’re performing for the festival,” Ennoshita says and crosses his arms over his chest, “but if it’s not a good performance, I’m gonna have to charge you.”

“They’re the best!” Shoyou blurts out. “Bokuto-nii is really good on guitar and Koushi is really good and drumming and Akaashi-san is _really_ good at bass. Plus, Kuroo’s a good singer!”

“I’m not a ‘really’ good singer? And hey, I play guitar too you know,” Kuroo says, trying not to sound too agitated that _he’s_ Shoyou’s unfavorite. He doesn’t even add honorifics at _all_ , why doesn’t this kid _like him_?

“You play a sick rhythm guitar and harmonica, bro,” Bokuto pipes in and Kuroo reaches over Shoyou and fistbumps in front of Oikawa’s face, who scowls and tries to eat around their hands. Kuroo grins and turns to his grilled mackerel to give his thanks, before he takes some chopsticks and digs right in. The four eat in silence while Kinoshita and Ennoshita starts another order of food and cleans up in the process. Shoyou is back to digging into his takoyaki while Bokuto is finished with his and is pestering Oikawa for some of his food.

“Oi, Ennoshita,” a voice calls from behind them and Kuroo gives a glance at a man with sandy blond hair waiting with his arms crossed over his muscle shirt. There’s a scowl etched on his face, clearly irritated. “You got my order ready?”

“Yeah, it’s right here, Kamasaki,” Ennoshita says and hands him a bag. Kamasaki digs into the pocket of his trousers to fish out exact change and hands it to Ennoshita’s awaiting hands. Ennoshita then gestures over towards Kuroo and the others. “Hey, this is the entertainment for the festival. They’re a rock band from the city!” Ennoshita gushes. Kamasaki gives them one look, clicks his tongue, and then leaves without another word. Bokuto scoffs.

“Nice to meet you too!” he shouts at Kamasaki’s retreating back and Ennoshita sighs.

“He’s one of those old fogeys that don’t like the festival. Sorry about him,” Ennoshita apologizes and Kuroo shrugs. No matter, whether people want them to be here or not, the festival is going to go on and they’re going to perform. He pushes the thought of Kamasaki far back into his mind and continues his meal, Shoyou’s hums of content as he eats his own food echoing in his ears.

* * *

 

“The village chief’s assistant just dropped by. He took the band equipment and stage luggage up to village chief’s place where it’ll be locked up until we need it, so that way it won’t be so cluttered in here,” Suga explains to Kuroo who just walked into their room that has all of their luggage set up in neat little stacks. Suga is sitting in a little chair by the window, one of Noya’s books of Karasuno’s history in his lap. Akaashi is nowhere in sight, Kuroo assumes that he must be sightseeing or went to get something to eat himself.

Shoyou runs in and flops down on the futon Suga flopped in before, Oikawa strolling inside shortly afterwards. He gives a little pout at seeing his own bags set up in a corner near the closet.

“Kou-chan, you and _me_ were supposed to have the room next door,” Oikawa whines and Suga blinks.

“Oh, Akaashi just moved his stuff in there. So I guess he’s my new roommate,” Suga says with a shrug and Oikawa hangs his head in defeat. Suga closes the book and sits it on the nightstand by the window, rising to his feet and giving his arms and legs a good stretch. “So, you guys want to meet the village chief? His assistant said he should be back at his home down the road.”

“Sure, might as well,” Kuroo says and Suga nods his head, going over to Shoyou still lying down on the futon.

“Come on, Shoyou.”

“Can’t I stay here, Koushi?”

“No, no one’s here to watch you. Come on,” Suga says. Shoyou groans and whines into the futon for a few seconds, before he drags himself up to his feet and takes hold of Suga’s hand. Suga smiles and turns to the other two. “Shall we?”

* * *

 

The village chief’s home is large and the heaviest decorated out of all the buildings Kuroo’s seen thus far. There’s charms and foxes and streamers hanging from the windows and the banisters, some of them wrapped around the little lamps alongside the dirt pathway leading up to the front porch. There’s also little fox figures nestled in the grass like watchful guardians.

“Daichi’s going to be here in an hour or so, maybe when the sun is going down,” Suga informs, swinging his and Shoyou’s hands back and forth with each step.

“He should probably stay the night. It’ll be dangerous for him to drive down the mountains so late and he’s probably tired,” Kuroo says. Oikawa and Suga look at him slyly and Kuroo blinks. “ _What?_ It’s the truth!”

“Tetsu-chan, no impure comments with a _child_ present,” Oikawa says in a hushed voice and Kuroo scowls, walking faster to get away from the two’s teasing. He’s just showing concern like anyone else would! Suga’ll probably suggest the same thing when Daichi arrives to get Shoyou and _no one_ will comment then! Kuroo steps onto the front porch and raises his fist to knock, only for the door to swing open and narrowly miss whacking him in the face. However, something _does_ smack Kuroo in the face, a little hand slapping something on his forehead.

“Yay, Kageyama! You got the demon!” an obnoxious boy with a buzzcut screeches, holding out a smaller and frowning boy like he’s a pet he wants to show off. He lets the boy get to his feet just as a man with panicky eyes and glasses slipping down his nose scrambles to the front door.

“Tanaka! Stop it with that demon stuff!” he shrieks and Tanaka darts away from the house laughing. The man shouts after him, but the boy is long gone. Suga and Oikawa approach, trying to stifle their laughter at the ‘exorcise’ charm stuck smack in the middle of Kuroo’s forehead. Shoyou instead, points a finger and laughs.

“You look stupid, Kuroo!” Shoyou laughs and Suga swats his hand from pointing.

“Don’t point and laugh at Kuroo’s misfortune, Shoyou,” Suga scolds with a smile and Kuroo rips the charm from his forehead to ball up. The man bows his head and forces Kageyama’s head into a bow as well.

“I-I’m so sorry! I keep telling Noya to stop putting those stories into their heads but-”

“It’s okay, no harm in a little joke,” Oikawa says and crouches down to Kageyama’s eye level where the boy glares with piercing blue eyes. Let it be known that another one of Suga’s favorite things is children. The only children to Kuroo’s knowledge that Oikawa actually _likes_ are Shoyou and his own nephew. But if there is an opportune moment where a child under the age of nine is in close proximity for Suga to witness a cutesy moment between said child and Oikawa, Oikawa _will_ pounce on it. “Nice to meet you, what’s your name?” Oikawa introduces in a babying tone and sticks his hand out towards Kageyama.

_SMACK!_

Oikawa yelps as a charm is forcefully administered to _his_ forehead with ‘exorcise’ written on it as well. The man with glasses screeches and Kuroo laughs so hard that he teeters backwards and leans up against a wooden post for support.

“The shoe’s on the other foot now, huh?” Kuroo asks with a shit-eating grin and Oikawa yanks the charm off of him, glaring down at the child looking at him with his head cocked to the side cute and confused.

“Eh? Tanaka said once the charm is stuck on, the demon is supposed to pop out and burst into flames,” Kageyama says and pulls out a good stack of charms from his pocket to stick onto unsuspecting ‘possessed’ people. “Maybe these ones aren’t strong enough. . .”

“Kageyama, _please_ ,” the man begs and takes the charms from the child to fold up and stow away into his own pocket. “I’m _very_ sorry. Tanaka’s just one of the village scamps and he and the other kids like to poke a little fun now and then. Usually, Azumane is the victim but he’s a little preoccupied right now so,” the man bows his head _extremely_ low, “please, forgive their negligence!”

“It’s okay, really! They aren’t mad!” Suga says and looks between Oikawa and Kuroo. “ _Right_ , guys?”

Oikawa and Kuroo just mumble something that can either be taken as a no or a yes. Suga decides that they said ‘yes’. The man stands up straight and smiles, eyes filled with relief.

“I’m Takeda Ittetsu, the village chief. We’re very glad to have you as our guests here so please, make yourselves at home!” Takeda introduces himself and gestures for them to enter his abode. Kuroo slips his shoes off and takes some slippers that Takeda offers them, glancing over his shoulder at Shoyou.

“You don’t want to go and play with one of the ‘village scamps’ over there?” he asks and points at Kageyama, hiding by the doorframe and glaring at Kuroo like he’s still a demon that’ll try to eat him. Shoyou blinks, then smiles and jumps over to Kageyama with outstretched hands.

“You wanna play hide n’ go seek?” Shoyou asks and Kageyama fidgets in his spot.

“You’re. . .you’re not one of those demons’ servants, are you?” Kageyama asks and Shoyou looks down at his hands.

“I don’t think so. How can I tell?” Shoyou asks. Kageyama rubs his chin and then jabs his index finger into Hinata’s forehead.

“Evil spirit, be gone!” Kageyama yells and Shoyou yells back, jabbing Kageyama just as hard. What ensues next is the two boys stumbling out the doorframe and into the front yard poking and hitting at each other, Kuroo watching with a blank expression before slowly closing the door shut behind and following the others into the living room.

“It’s the first time that we’re opening up the village to visitors. The merchants are very excited about new customers and Azumane is putting together a really nice fireworks show for the kids. It’s going to be great!” Takeda gushes with stars in his eyes.

“The festival is on Sunday, right? How many people are you expecting up here?” Suga asks and Takeda pushes his glasses up his nose with a grin.

“My assistant set out some flyers when he went to town last week. We’re hoping for a big turnout!”

_Flyers were your **only** advertisement?_ Kuroo thinks, raising an eyebrow as Takeda opens up a window to let in some air. Oikawa and Suga take up all the room on the couch and Oikawa doesn’t look sorry that Kuroo has to stand, Takeda sitting in a large chair near a grandfather clock. “So, do you like your arrangements at the inn? I-I know we’re sort of old-fashioned and we may not have the high-class stuff but-”

“We’re not even a famous band, so we’re not picky or anything. It’s just right for us,” Oikawa says with a handwave and Takeda nods his head, cheeks flushed.

“And you’ll be paid well for sure. I really want this festival to go off nicely,” Takeda says, looking at the three of them with more solemn eyes, “To be honest, a lot of our merchants left Karasuno to take their business into the city and customers with them. And while I want our friends to thrive in their new businesses, Karasuno’s become pretty much a ghost town, and I don’t want the history and heritage of this village to die out like mine had,” Takeda says quietly. He shakes his head and grips a tight fist. “B-But we’re going to reinvent Karasuno and get customers to come back. There’s not many traditional villages in such close proximity to the city and people can get a real experience here on vacation to get away from the hustle and bustle!”

“And we’ll make sure we’ll put on a memorable performance for people to want to come back,” Kuroo says with a smile that makes Takeda’s eyes brighten up all over again like a child at Christmas. Takeda clasps his hands together and stands to his feet.

“Great! Azumane and Futakuchi should be done fixing up the stage tomorrow, so you’ll be free to work out your set-up for the show and also tour the village if you like!” Takeda says, moving to shake each one of their hands. “Thank you again for this. You don’t know how much this means to me-”

“Really, it’s nothing. You don’t have to thank us for performing,” Kuroo says with an awkward smile. Takeda nods his head, still smiling big and excited for what’s to happen next.

* * *

 

When they head back to the inn, there’s a light fog that is starting to set and the skies are slowly blending orange and purple to call in the night. Takeda mentioned about the weather forecast calling for a beautiful night for the festival, so Kuroo hopes that the fog doesn’t happen when they’re about to perform.

Shoyou receives a piggyback ride from Oikawa (and also some cuts and bruises from Kageyama from some roughhousing, but the boy _insists_ that Kageyama is now his new friend). He rubs at his eyes, trying to fight off sleep and losing the battle. The moment they’re within earshot, Kuroo hears Bokuto screaming bloody murder.

Daichi is sitting on Bokuto’s butt and pulling the man’s head up with arms wrapped around his throat, screaming threats and curses and ‘ _if you try and steal Shoyou one more time, I’m going to **murder you** ’_. Akaashi is leaning against the wood post sipping on some tea and watching as a passive observer. The three wait until they see Bokuto’s face turn blue to intervene, Suga briskly walking over to tug Daichi off of their guitarist.

“Now, now. He said that Shoyou suckered him into smuggling him into the van. We all aren’t as strong-willed when it comes to the ‘puppy dog’ look,” Suga says and Daichi eyes him.

“Oh please, you _perfected_ that look. Where is he?” Daichi asks and Oikawa places Shoyou down for Daichi to run and scoop him back up again. “Shoyou! You are in _so much trouble_ – _where did you get those bruises and cuts?!_ ” Daichi yells and then sets murderous eyes on Kuroo, who shrinks away from the look with his hands raised up in defense.

“It was from some village scamp! They’re friends now! It’s okay!” Kuroo confesses and Daichi huffs, feeling Shoyou’s face snuggle into the crook of his neck and hum tiredly.

“You’re _so_ lucky that I’m holding him right now, otherwise I’d put you into a headlock too,” Daichi says and Kuroo smiles sheepishly.

“So I’m off the hook from your throttling?” he asks and Daichi bites the inside of his cheek. Before he can respond, Bokuto gives a loud and annoying wail.

“That’s not fair! You beat me up but let Kuroo of the hook just cause you wanna bone him!” Bokuto accuses. Daichi and Kuroo turn to him with looks in their eyes ranging from ‘what did you say?’ to ‘ ** _do you wanna say that again without your spine intact?_** ’. Akaashi walks over and places a hand on Bokuto’s shoulder.

“Bokuto-san, it’s been a long day and everyone is tired. Shh.”

“Wise words, Akaashi. We should all turn in for the night if we want to wake up bright and early for rehearsal!” Oikawa says. Kuroo turns to Daichi, hitting his chest hard to get his heart to beat back in proper sync.

“You sure you can’t stay for the festival?”

Daichi sighs. “I’d want to, but I can’t. I have to work and I have to get Shoyou back home to my mom-“

Shoyou suddenly squeezes Daichi’s neck tight and he’s upright in Daichi’s arms with a little finger pointed up towards the rooftop of the inn. “Monster!” Shoyou screams and cowers into his big brother’s hold. Everyone turns, seeing _something_ standing atop the inn’s roof, posed like they’re about to attack whoever is down below. It looked like. . .a _tengu_.

“Is it a prop or something? They were still putting up decorations for the festival,” Akaashi suggests and Oikawa bites his lower lip.

“But this is a _fox_ festival. Why is there a tengu-”

“ **LEAVE THIS VILLAGE!** ” a voice echoes loud and malicious, sounding like it’s coming from all directions. There’s the sound of crows cawing and Shoyou begins to cry, Daichi quickly bouncing his little brother to get him to calm down. “ **LEAVE THIS VILLAGE NOW! YOU HAVE DESECRATED THE FORTUNE OF KARASUNO WITH YOUR PRESENCE!** ”

“What, you don’t like rock music?” Kuroo calls out and Oikawa looks at him with his eyes blown wide.

“Are you trying to pick fights with a _tengu?!_ ”

“Oh come on, they don’t even exist,” Kuroo scoffs and the karasu-tengu raises its hands.

“ **IF YOU CHOOSE NOT TO LEAVE, I WILL EXACT MY VENGENCE ON ALL IN THIS VILLAGE! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!** ”

The karasu-tengu then thrusts its hands outwards and something explodes at Kuroo’s feet. He moves faster than he thinks, wrapping his arms around Daichi and Shoyou and yanks both of them behind Noya’s kitsune mask cart as more fire bombs fall from the inn’s rooftops. Shoyou is crying louder and Kuroo has his body lying on top of Daichi and Shoyou to shield them, gritting his teeth and hoping that _whatever_ is happening would just _stop_.

The sound of crows screeching enters Kuroo’s ears once more even louder, and he hears something landing with a heavy thud. He doesn’t remember when he closed his eyes, but they slowly open to see villagers out screaming and pointing at the sky, burning decorations being hastily put out with buckets of water, and black crow feathers all around.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Update next Saturday!


	3. with ghoulish delight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the gang begins their investigation and kuroo continues to be uber gay for daichi

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this title actually isn't from a scooby doo episode, it's from grim grinning ghosts (still unoriginal OTL)
> 
> ahhhh and as always thanks for the continued support. the updates might get iffy since technically we're half way through the story and idk how the next two chapters are going to be formatted, whether 4 will be longer or 5 will be just RIDICULOUSLY long. it's still going to be updated next saturday but idk at what length just yet. but enjoy this chap for now!!

Kuroo doesn’t believe in monsters. He’s had his fair share of being afraid of the boogeyman when he was four and the monster hiding in his closet when he was five. Monsters are just something that appears on television or gets talked about around a campfire. Monsters _didn’t exist_.

That’s what Kuroo keeps telling himself, even after he’s watched Daichi pace around the interior of the inn with a bawling Shoyou in his arms, desperately trying to calm him down. Luckily, none of the fire bombs the karasu-tengu had thrown harmed anyone. The others were just as quick as Kuroo when the first bomb landed and took cover immediately. However, the decorations hanging from the inn are burned to a crisp, some of the inn’s wooden exterior scorched as well.

Noya is outside, cursing and hollering and damning the jackass that pulled off this little act. He didn’t want to do it inside the inn where his guests and a child could hear him, but his voice is so loud Kuroo hears every single word. Takeda is worrying his thumb in between his teeth, having rushed over to the inn the moment some of the villagers notified him of the attack

All is silent and tense, save for Shoyou’s sobs turning into hiccups and the noise outside of worried villagers. Akaashi sucks in a breath and wraps arms around himself.

“So. . .what just happened?”

“We just got _attacked_. By some whackjob in a costume,” Kuroo grumbles and Oikawa places a hand to his chest.

“What kind of whackjob would attack _us_? We’re visitors!”

“Don’t tell me you think that was an _actual_ karasu-tengu,” Kuroo says exasperated and Oikawa crosses his arms.

“I’m just saying that there are some things that we can’t explain.”

“Yeah, like how you can be so fucking _gullible_ ,” Kuroo scoffs and Suga rubs his chin.

“It looked pretty real to me. It looked just like the karasu-tengu in Noya’s books I read. Even the _garment_ it was wearing looked exactly the same,” Suga murmurs.

“Though, it sounded strange. The tengu’s screeches sounded. . .familiar,” Akaashi says and Bokuto raises an eyebrow.

“Familiar like how?”

“I don’t know. . .I can’t put my finger on it just yet,” he mutters and crosses his arms. “But I agree with Kuroo-san. There’s no possible way that what we just witnessed was a real karasu-tengu. I don’t know who wants us out of this village or why, but _someone_ has it out for us,” Akaashi says gravely. Everyone is silent once again and Kuroo barely hears Daichi humming a soft lullaby to soothe Shoyou.

“What should we do?” Bokuto asks.

“ _Leave_.”

Everyone turns to see Kamasaki standing in the doorway of the inn with some villagers crowding behind him. He’s only wearing a muscle shirt and loose pajama pants, so he must have been asleep when the attack happened. Kamasaki points an accusing finger at the band, eyebrows in a hard line and his lips turned upwards into a snarl.

“That karasu-tengu said _you’re_ desecrating Karasuno! This whole festival is an insult to him! For years our ancestors revered it and now we celebrate _another_ spirit in its place?! This is that _sign_ you were looking for, Takeda! We need to go back to the way things used to be!” Kamasaki barks and the villagers behind him shout in agreement.

“Why should _we_ have to leave cause some imaginary bird says we should?” Kuroo spits and Kamasaki growls, stomping forward with a fist raised before Takeda immediately jumps in between the two of them, holding his arms out to keep them apart.

“Everyone, _please_!” Takeda shouts, his head whirring back and forth from the angry and scared villagers to the band members. “Right now, everyone is scared and confused and it’s perfectly understandable. But these people are our _guests_. I don’t know what this karasu-tengu wants, but we should deal with the matter in the morning when everyone had a good night sleep. Besides Kamasaki, it’s far too foggy for them to leave down the mountain right now. It’ll be dangerous,” Takeda states, looking the man in his eyes.

Kamasaki clicks his tongue and glares at Kuroo. “Fine then. Tomorrow morning when the fog clears, _they leave_. It’s clear that the karasu-tengu doesn’t want them here so we might as well try to appease it before it attacks again,” Kamasaki grumbles.

“How’re you so sure it’ll attack again?” Suga pipes up and Kamasaki turns to him. Suga’s face is unmoving and he’s watching Kamasaki closely, like a hawk sizing up its prey. Kamasaki clicks his tongue again, grumbles something that’s probably unkind but too low for Kuroo to make out, and then exits the inn with the crowd of villagers leaving for their own homes a few minutes afterwards.

Suga crosses his arms and bites the inside of his cheek. “Something’s fishy about that guy,” Suga says and Takeda places a hand to his chest, letting out a sigh that’s not so relieved.

“I’m sorry for his behavior towards you, everyone’s just a little on edge. More importantly, you all are okay, right? No one’s hurt?” he asks and everyone nods their heads. Takeda turns to Daichi holding Shoyou, the boy managing to cry himself to sleep. “You should probably stay the night too. You look exhausted and we don’t want you driving down the mountains tired.”

Daichi smiles meekly. “Thanks, but I don’t have the money for a room-”

“They can stay in one of our rooms for the night. The room can hold three futons and Shoyou’s small enough to share one with one of us. That’ll be okay, right?” Kuroo says quickly and Daichi averts his gaze, tips of his ears turning red. Takeda nods his head and clasps his hands together.

“Then I’ll have Noya set up an extra futon in the second room when he’s. . .done,” Takeda says. Outside, there’s a loud clang. Noya must have thrown something in his rage. Takeda bows his head and turns to everyone. “I’ll have this thing sorted out as soon as possible. Just try to get some sleep, okay?”

They nod their heads and Takeda nods his once more, giving his parting goodbyes before he leaves the inn for the night.

“You didn’t have to do that,” Daichi murmurs.

“Sawamura, you look like you’ve gone through hell and you’re not Superman. Plus, Shoyou’s tired and he should get a good night sleep someplace comfortable. Just take the extra futon and go lie down,” Kuroo states and Daichi looks at the ground, small smile tugging at his lips but doesn’t want it to show. Suga walks over and places a hand on Daichi’s shoulder.

“Guess that means you’re staying with me and Akaashi. Come on, we all need some rest after what just happened,” Suga says. Oikawa whines when he remembers that he and Suga are in separate rooms and he’ll have to deal with Bokuto’s snoring, while Bokuto whines that he didn’t even have the _option_ to share a room with Akaashi. Kuroo just shoves them up the stairs with the others following behind, too tired and shaken up to even make a comment.

* * *

 

It’s around two in the morning when Kuroo decides to get some water from the drink machine in the ice room down the hall. He doesn’t know why Oikawa whined about Bokuto’s snoring when he snores _just as loud_. Kuroo pauses in grabbing one of the complimentary robes Noya provided for them to take a quick picture of their manager and save it to his cell phone to use as blackmail material. Satisfied with the picture of Oikawa looking less than glamorous with his tongue hanging out and pushing against the metal of his retainer, drool dripping down his chin and hair all askew, Kuroo ties his robe up and grabs his wallet. He takes the key and slips on the inn slippers, leaving quietly and tiptoes past the room next door.

He hopes Daichi and Shoyou are alright. Frankly, he’s not sure _what_ to do about this whole karasu-tengu business. Even if there’s no such thing as one, there’s still some maniac that actually tried to _harm_ them running loose in the village. He’s never seen Daichi so frightened that Shoyou could have been hurt. Hell, Kuroo was more scared that Daichi and Shoyou could have gotten hurt rather than worrying about his own safety.

Kuroo pauses half way and scratches his head. “Aw man, why am I getting worried about him? He’s a grown man, he can take care of himself,” he groans to one of Noya’s hanging pictures of trees. Daichi’s mature and responsible and knew the right thing to do. Why is Kuroo freaking himself out like this? Daichi’s fine, Daichi _will be_ fine. Kuroo feels his face go warm and ignores the sensation of butterflies in his stomach to keep walking down the hall and to the ice room. When he rounds the corner, something bumps into him and Kuroo is quick to move his hand to cover Shoyou’s mouth from screaming bloody murder at two in the morning. Shoyou blinks and calms down when he realizes it’s Kuroo and _not_ the karasu-tengu coming to get him.

Kuroo crouches down to Shoyou’s eye level. “What are you doing up wandering around?” Kuroo asks, his voice sounding groggier than he realized. Shoyou wrings the oversized t-shirt - there’s a goofy, cartoon shrimp on it, it’s probably Suga’s – and scuffs his sock-clad toe against the hardwood floor.

“I had to use the bathroom. But I didn’t want to wake up Koushi or Daichi to take me, so I went by myself and I got a little lost,” Shoyou murmurs.

“What about Akaashi?”

Shoyou puffs his cheeks and his ears get red. “I-I didn’t want to bother him either,” he stutters out and Kuroo cocks his head to the side.

“You’re not scared of him, are you?”

“No. I think he’s pretty. And I like his voice. And also the way he plays the bass and he dresses really cool and his hair looks soft and I like his smile. I just don’t know what to say to him sometimes cause I don’t want to bother him,” Shoyou rambles, wringing the bottom end of his borrowed shirt and Kuroo nods his head. Ah, looks like Bokuto has competition.

“He’s a nice guy. Just say whatever’s on your mind and he’ll listen.”

Shoyou blinks, then nods his head firmly. Kuroo stands to his feet and holds out his hand.

“Do you want to come with me and get something to drink? I’ll get you a juice or something too,” Kuroo offers and Shoyou nods his head, allowing Kuroo to gently take hold of his hand and walk with him to the ice room. Shoyou still looks extremely burned out, Kuroo giving his hand a squeeze. “You okay?” Kuroo asks.

“That monster tried to hurt us,” Shoyou mutters and rubs at his face.

“You were scared?”

“Mm.”

They enter the ice room, the ice machine’s light blinking every two seconds to alert that it was full and the bright lights of the drink machine made Kuroo go blind for a few seconds. Kuroo fishes out some coins and gets Shoyou’s juice first, depositing them into the machine and jabs the button for the juice to come out of the side hatch.

“Don’t worry about it. We’re not going anywhere, no imaginary bird is chasing us out of town. We’ll all keep you safe, Shoyou,” Kuroo says and hands the juice to Shoyou. “Just leave it to your big bro Kuroo.”

Shoyou smiles at him and laughs. “You’re not my big bro, Kuroo!” Shoyou chirps and Kuroo ignores the sudden feeling of being stabbed in his chest.

“I’ve known you the same amount of time that Bokuto’s known you. How come you don’t think of me as a big brother?” Kuroo asks, hoping he didn’t sound too desperate. Shoyou takes a quick sip from his juice as Kuroo gets himself a water bottle and hums.

“I don’t know. Do you want me to call you ‘Kuroo-nii’?” Shoyou asks and Kuroo bites the inside of his cheek. There’s a feeling welling up in his stomach of pure bridled _joy_ just from hearing Shoyou add the ‘-nii’ to his name, and figures that this must be what Bokuto and Oikawa feel whenever Shoyou smiles up at them full of admiration. At the same time, it also feels like he’s just begging for the honorific. He wants Shoyou to call him that _naturally_. So, he sighs and takes Shoyou’s hand.

“Not if you don’t want to. ‘Kuroo’ is fine,” Kuroo says and Shoyou hums.

“You were really cool though when the monster attacked.”

“Yeah?”

“Uh-huh, Daichi said so.” Kuroo nearly spits his drink out and tries to keep the trembles of joy from being noticeable.

“Did he?”

“Yeah, he talks in his sleep sometimes,” Shoyou blabs on, “He thinks you were really cool and brave and he likes your butt.” This time, Kuroo _does_ spit up his drink, just a little. He wipes his mouth and stops in front of the room next to his own.

“Alright, let’s get you back to bed before the sun rises,” Kuroo mutters and Shoyou squeezes his hand.

“Can I stay in your bedroom tonight? Daichi moves around a lot and Koushi says funny things about Oikawa-nii in his sleep.”

“Things like what?”

“Like. . .he starts groaning and says ‘Tooru, you know I’m cent-see-teeve down there-‘”

“Yeah, you can sleep in my room,” Kuroo quickly cuts off and takes out his room key. “But I don’t know how much sleep you’re going to get with Bokuto and Oikawa in the room,” he says and looks from left to right before he crouches down to Shoyou’s eye level. “They roar like bears when they sleep so they can keep all the scary monsters away,” Kuroo whispers like it’s a deep, dark secret and Shoyou nods his head in understanding.

“That’s okay. That means that monster we saw can’t get me,” Shoyou then smiles, “and you’ll be there too, right Kuroo?”

“Of course.”

* * *

 

The sun hits Kuroo’s face in a rude awakening a couple hours later, Kuroo groaning and turning over in his futon as he put more pillows over his head. He doesn’t feel Shoyou curled up next to him, however, so he removes one pillow and blinks a lazy eye open to find out where the six year old is. Only, when his vision clears, not only is Shoyou gone but so is Bokuto and Oikawa, their futons tucked away nice and neat.

“So you’re finally awake.”

Kuroo turns to see Daichi sitting in the chair by the window, looking at Kuroo with an expression Kuroo can stupidly mistake as fondness. Kuroo remembers Shoyou’s words from last night and throws the blanket off of him, arching his back so his butt was casually in the air for Daichi to see.

“Sawamura, were you _watching_ me sleep? How _creepy_ ,” Kuroo teases and Daichi rolls his eyes.

“I called my mom to lie to her about how I took Shoyou up to the mountains to watch you perform, and I just got done talking with Ukai about how I’m not going to be able to get to work today, for your information. What are you even _doing_?” Daichi asks, his eyes flickering just once to Kuroo’s behind before looking at Kuroo’s teasing grin.

“This is part of my morning exercise routine. Rock stars have to be fit, you know. How else did you think I got my stunning figure?” Kuroo continues on, leaning on his side to stretch his leg out and then flops to his stomach. Daichi shakes his head and sighs. There’s a newspaper unfolded in his lap, the front headlines reading ‘ **ART THEIF STILL AT LARGE** ’ in big, bold black letters.

“You read the _newspaper_? Sawamura, you’re becoming more and more like my grandpa,” Kuroo says in between half-assed pushups.

“I like to keep up with the news. Excuse me for being a responsible adult.”

“Are there any comics in there?”

“No, I gave them to Shoyou already. Is running your mouth part of your exercise regimine too?”

“How mean, Sawamura. You come into _my_ inn room just to insult me on this lovely morning?”

“I came to get you for breakfast, which there probably won’t be any if Bokuto’s inhaled it all,” Daichi says and Kuroo gets to his feet.

“Ah, so that’s where Shoyou and the others are?”

“Yeah. I found him sleeping next to Oikawa when I came in this morning,” Daichi responds and Kuroo blinks. He could have sworn that Shoyou slept next to him last night. The boy must have just got up and wandered over to Oikawa when Kuroo was still deep in sleep (or maybe Kuroo just started talking in his sleep too).

“He had to use the bathroom but didn’t want to bother you guys. I got him a milk and he wanted to sleep in our room, so yeah,” Kuroo says with a shrug and goes to his suitcase to pull out his outfit for the day. The jeans that hug his butt tight will be making their debut just for Daichi. Kuroo sheds his pajama shirt and pulls on his checkered T-shirt, running a hand through his bed hair.

“That was sweet of you,” Daichi comments. He sounds a little distracted; Kuroo smiles when he hears Daichi’s breathing hitch in his throat once he pulls his gym shorts down.

“I’m always kind to adorable children like your little brother,” Kuroo says off-handedly. He shimmies into his jeans and buttons them, turning to Daichi with a more serious expression. “Did you get a good night rest?”

“Yeah, I’m alright. It still bothers me a little, the fog hasn’t let up just yet so I don’t think we can leave-”

“We’re not leaving anyways. Kamasaki can sit and spin if he doesn’t like us being here, but we _are_ performing. No imaginary bird is going to scare ‘Fishbones’ away!”

“I thought you were ‘Hooters’.”

“Shit, I forgot.”

Daichi hides his laugh behind his hand and Kuroo feels his face go warm. He coughs and shoves his hands into his pockets. “Come on, let’s go and get something to eat. _If_ there’s any left.”

* * *

 

There’s some miso soup and rice left for Daichi and Kuroo when they enter the inn’s small event room that's been converted into a dining hall. Everyone’s seated around the table, finishing off the last remnants of their own breakfast and drinking some bottled waters from the drink machine upstairs. Shoyou is livelier now, bits of rice on his cheeks as he tries to eat faster than Bokuto who might as well just shove his whole bowl of rice down his throat. Kuroo pulls up a seat next to Akaashi who’s watching them with a mild look of horror while Daichi sits next to Suga who’s pretending he’s not playing footsie with Oikawa under the table.

“So, let’s talk about our plans for today now that we’re all here,” Oikawa says, his face red and lips smiling. He’s also shaking for some reason, either trying to hold in his laughter from Suga’s foot tickling up his shin or hold in his urges to just jump Suga right here and right now.

“Well, we’re not leaving, so where do we rehearse at?” Kuroo asks and takes some chopsticks to start on his bowl of rice.

“The road up to the outdoor stage is really heavy with fog. Takeda suggested that we wait until it becomes a bit more visible to traverse,” Akaashi mentions. He hands Bokuto a napkin, eyes _pleading_ for Bokuto to wipe his mouth. Bokuto takes it like he’s won a trophy, but continues to stuff his face anyways.

“No one’s-mmph-seen that karsu-tengu yet-mmph-either!”

“Don’t talk with your mouth full. You’re setting a bad example for Shoyou,” Daichi says without even looking over in Bokuto’s direction.

“If it shows up again and we’re still here, we’re going to have to deal with Kamasaki and his hoard of angry villagers chasing us out of the village with torches and pitchforks,” Suga says with a sigh and Kuroo scoffs. “They’re supposed to be having a village meeting right now. Oikawa and I were thinking about heading over there to defend ourselves.”

“Why only you two?” Kuroo asks and Oikawa gives a haughty laugh.

“Cause I’m your manager and it’s my job to protect my clients!” Oikawa boasts and Suga rests his head on Oikawa’s shoulder.

“And I’m the friendly and polite member of the group that won’t pick fights and won’t be asking if we’re done with the meeting every five seconds,” Suga says with a wink and peace sign.

“What about you? You didn’t want to go?” Kuroo asks Akaashi and Akaashi shakes his head.

“I don’t like arguing over trivial matters. The karasu-tengu doesn’t exist, we shouldn’t have to leave. There isn’t any argument,” he murmurs and sips his bottled green tea.

“A-Akaashi-san!” Shoyou suddenly screeches and everyone turns to the five year old with rice all over his mouth looking like he’s about to explode. “You should go cause you’re so pretty everyone’ll _have_ to listen to you!”

Daichi spits his miso soup back into the bowl, Bokuto chokes on his rice, Oikawa and Suga stare at the scene before them and Kuroo is laughing into his rice bowl. Akaashi has the mouth of the bottle up to his lips and is staring at Shoyou with his eyes blank and jaw slack. “Uh. . .thank you?” he says rather unsure and Shoyou wipes his mouth with the sleeve of his shirt.

“I’m going to use the bathroom!” Shoyou announces with the tips of his ears a bright red, hopping down from his chair and scurries out of the room. Daichi slowly turns to Kuroo still laughing with his eyebrow raised.

“What did you say to him to make him say _that_?”

Kuroo wipes a tear from his eye. “Nothing. Just your little brother is becoming a man.”

* * *

 

Oikawa and Suga leave shortly after breakfast to the town meeting at Takeda’s home. Akaashi heads out, meanwhile, to the souvenir shop and the bathhouse afterwards. And since Daichi insists that they just don’t sit around and stew away in their rooms, Kuroo and Shoyou are outside with Noya while Daichi and Bokuto are inside creating some new decorations for Noya to hang.

Noya seems to be in a better mood, smiling big as he leads Kuroo and Shoyou around the corner to the back of the inn with a rope tied around his waist.

“We’ll get this inn decorated in _twice as many_ decorations! That’ll show that asshole he can’t break my spirit by trying to scare me!” Noya shouts and turns to the two of them. “And with the help of my two assistants, it’ll be done in no time! Now, you guys are going to hand me the decorations with the use of this,” Noya says and gestures to some old, wooden lift with a rope attached to a suspended weight that looks very, very _hazardous_.

“What is that?”

“It’s the ‘Rolling Thunder Pulley Lift’! I made it myself!”

 _That explains why it looks like it could fall apart any second now_ , Kuroo thinks gravely. Shoyou is still in wonder of it regardless, watching as Noya puts the harness on and buckles himself in nice and tight. “Okay, Kuroo-san! I need you to just pull the lever right here and I’ll go zooming upwards towards the roof to jump on! Like a slingshot!”

“Are you sure that’s safe?” Kuroo asks and Noya gives a thumbs up.

“Of course it is! You know how many times I’ve done this? I’m a pro! Just pull the lever on my mark!” Noya shouts at him and Kuroo hopes that if something _does_ go horribly wrong, Shoyou will have his head turned and Kuroo won’t be at fault. Kuroo walks over and wraps hesitant fingers around the break lever, looking at Noya and pleading that the man will come to his senses at the last moment and ask to get a fucking ladder or something instead of Kuroo basically _catapulting_ him into the sky. “Okay! Three! Two! One!” Noya grips hold of the harness. “Launch!”

Kuroo pulls the lever and instantly covers his eyes as he listens for the sound of Noya hitting the tree or the roof or some sort of noise that resembles a ‘SPLAT’. Instead, he hears something go _SNAP!_ and peeks in between his fingers to find that Noya is still standing on the ground and looking just as confused. Noya hums and crouches down to pick up the rope that is now torn in two.

“That’s funny,” he mutters. “Usually, the rope only breaks if I’m pulling something heavy.”

Noya rubs his chin and then shrugs. “Must have worn down from too many uses. Ah well! Guess we got to do this the old fashioned way! I’ll go grab a ladder from Ennoshita’s place, be right back!” Noya says and undoes his harness to rush off to Ennoshita’s meat stall. Kuroo looks at the pulley device and then up at the rooftop. From this positon, it looks they were right behind where the karasu-tengu was standing last night. Kuroo even sees that there’s some feathers that rested in the rooftop’s gutter.

Hmm. . .Noya says that the pulley was supposed to send him flying onto the roof unless it was pulling something heavy. . .and Noya’s definitely not a big guy, so why didn’t it work this time around? Unless someone used it recently. . .

Kuroo moves away from the pulley and walks around the machine, eying the ground suspiciously. Shoyou stops from playing with the fox figurines Daichi sent them out with to look at Kuroo confused.

“What’cha doing?” Shoyou asks and Kuroo scratches his head.

“Do you see anything funny, Shoyou?” Kuroo asks and Shoyou tilts his head to the side.

“Like what?” he asks and Kuroo hums, searching around a bush and muddy area towards the back of the pulley. He pushes the shrubbery back and frowns hard, pointing a finger at the ground.

“Like _this_ ,” Kuroo says and Shoyou runs over to see what it is. Embedded in the ground were two footprints large and birdlike, Shoyou whimpering at the thought of the karasu-tengu.

“D-Does that mean it’s here? Is it here?” Shoyou asks, hugging his arms around one of Kuroo’s legs and Kuroo gently threads his hand through Shoyou’s hair.

“Think about it, Shoyou. If you could fly wherever you wanted, would you walk?”

“. . .No?” Shoyou answers, unsure. Kuroo nods his head.

“So then why would our friend Mr. Karasu-Tengu decide to walk after flying off the roof? Or better yet, using Noya-san’s pulley to safely lower himself down?” Kuroo asks and Shoyou bites his lower lip. Kuroo lets him think about it while his eyes follow the bird footprints start to head off towards Takeda’s home, but stops halfway. The footprints are smudged together like someone went over them with a broom or something to erase the tracks, but they were done sloppily like the person clearing the tracks didn’t have a lot of time.

Shoyou squeezes Kuroo’s leg and shouts out ‘Oh!’.

“So you mean, that monster isn’t really a monster at all?”

“Yep. It means that there’s someone in the village pretending to be the karasu-tengu to try and scare us off and possibly stop the festival from happening,” Kuroo says and thinks about Kamasaki. “I think we already have our prime suspect too,” Kuroo mutters and Shoyou pulls away from Kuroo with his little fists raised.

“If it’s some bad guy trying to scare us away, then I’m gonna beat ‘em up! I watched a kung-fu movie right before we left, so I know how to fight!” Shoyou states, demonstrating his hesitant kick and his karate chop of air. Kuroo snorts and ruffles Shoyou’s hair playfully, to which Shoyou squawks and swats his hand away. Kuroo sniffs and covers up the footprints for now, just in case whoever tried to hide them in the first place decides to come back and finish the job.

“Go and get your brother and Bokuto. I think we got a little mystery to solve.”

* * *

 

Noya comes back to the inn a few minutes after Shoyou runs off to alert Daichi and Bokuto, carrying a large ladder with Ennoshita and a few of the village scamps in tow. Even though Kuroo and the others were very helpful guests, they were still Noya’s most honored guests and shouldn’t have to decorate his inn. So, with a big smile and a booming ‘go out and enjoy Karasuno!’, he scares Daichi and Bokuto out of the arts and crafts area so the village scamps could take over while he relieves Kuroo and Shoyou’s work of setting the decorations up.

It works out in Kuroo’s favor, since now they’re free to explore the village and _really_ see what’s going on.

While Noya and Ennoshita are busy, Kuroo quickly snaps a picture of the footprints with his cell phone camera. He doesn’t know whether or not he should tell Noya or anyone else in the village aside from maybe Takeda about the possibility of a villager trying to terrorize them all as the karasu-tengu. The last thing he wants Kamasaki to accuse him as is some sort of troublemaker trying to turn the villagers against each other by pointing fingers. Although, Kuroo is already 85% sure that Kamasaki has something to do with this.

He shows the picture to Daichi and Bokuto and explains his theory, Daichi frowning at the photo as Bokuto places his arms behind his head.

“So we got ourselves a fake, huh?”

“We’ll probably need some more damning evidence than just footprints and Kuroo’s explanation on how it got onto the roof,” Daichi explains and crosses his arms. “Maybe we should bring this up to the police. We’re not exactly suited to hunt down bad guys.”

“Yeah, Sawamura. Let’s just call the cops and let them know that there’s a monster in a remote village terrorizing us,” Kuroo says dryly and Daichi frowns.

“Kuroo-”

“Let’s catch the bad guy, Daichi!” Shoyou pipes, eyes ablaze with righteous justice. “You’re smart! You can figure out who done it! And I can beat ‘em up!”

“You’re not beating _anyone_ up,” Daichi says sharply and places fingertips to the side of his head. “Let’s tell Oikawa and the others before we go and ‘investigate’,” Daichi mutters and Kuroo grins before he turns to Bokuto.

“You said Akaashi was heading to the souvenir shop and then the bathhouse, right?”

“Yeah. He likes to take long baths, so it might be a while for him to come out.”

“I don’t even want to know how you know that,” Kuroo says and clasps his hands. “Then we should head over to Takeda’s place and get Oikawa and Suga.”

“You’re not going to start a fight, are you?” Daichi asks warily and Kuroo feigns a gasp, placing his hand to his heart and bats his eyelashes.

“ _Sawamura_ , I wouldn’t _dare_ pick fights willy-nilly!” Kuroo says in a cutesy voice complete with pouty lips. Daichi rolls his eyes and gives Kuroo a gentle kick in his calves.

“Shut up and start walking.”

* * *

 

Kamasaki is standing outside of Takeda’s place smoking a cigarette with some of the villagers when Kuroo and the others approach. He glares at them as they pass, but doesn’t make any comments towards them. Kuroo also does his best to keep his sharp tongue in control and keeps his face forward as they approach Takeda’s front door.

Daichi pats Kuroo’s head, sly smile on his lips. “Good Kuroo, good boy,” Daichi says in a babying tone and Kuroo wrinkles his nose at him.

“Sawamura has jokes now all of a sudden.”

“Maybe that stick’s finally out of his ass,” Bokuto blurts and Shoyou’s eyes widen.

“Daichi, there was a stick up your butt?! How were you able to sit down?!” he exclaims and Daichi’s hand shoots out fast to swat Bokuto upside his head, his face red.

“Shut up! Don’t say things like that around him!” he snaps and Bokuto rubs the back of his head, though the smile on his lips says he isn’t sorry in the slightest. Kuroo knocks on the door and they wait for a few seconds. The door opens and Kageyama is peering at them from behind the door suspiciously. Kuroo raises an eyebrow at him.

“Do you live here or something?”

“Takeda-san lets me play in his house all the time. Why? What do you want?” Kageyama questions and Shoyou bounds over to the door and pushes it more open. The door whacks Kageyama in the face and Kuroo snorts as Kageyama shouts and holds his head.

“Hi Kageyama!” Shoyou shouts, completely oblivious that he just hit Kageyama with the door. He gestures a hand towards Kageyama and looks at his brother. “This is my new friend, Daichi! We played yesterday!”

“. . .Is this the boy that beat you up?” Daichi asks with a darkening frown and Shoyou balls his hands into fists.

“We’re friends, Daichi! We wrestled and played tag and he can be a butt sometimes but I like him!” Shoyou says and then holds out his arms as if he’s protecting Kageyama from Daichi’s brooding eyes (he probably is, since Kageyama noticed Daichi’s look and is actually _crouching_ to hide behind Shoyou’s little form in terror). “So don’t be mean! You said we’re not going to fight!”

Daichi blinks, then bites the inside of his cheek and flares his nostrils. Kuroo chuckles.

“Your brother is so loving, Sawamura. Where did you go wrong?” he asks and Daichi turns his nose upwards.

“I’m loving too,” Daichi grumbles and Shoyou grins. He turns to Kageyama and holds his hand out.

“Let’s go play!” Shoyou states and Kageyama takes Shoyou’s hand warily, letting Shoyou pull him out of the house and both scurry somewhere out of Daichi’s line of sight.

“You two play nice!” Daichi shouts out and Kuroo nudges him inside. The house seems vacant, but there are signs that the villagers were here since there’s food wrappers all in the trash can and cups of water forgotten on a fold out table. Kuroo glances up to see Suga and Oikawa coming down the stairs, their eyes confused and hair messed up.

“What are you all doing here?” Oikawa asks. Kuroo swears he hears his voice cracking.

“We came to let you know about something we found behind the inn,” Daichi explains and Bokuto rubs his chin.

“Weren’t you two wearing opposite shirts this morning?” Bokuto asks and Suga crosses his arms over his chest while Oikawa’s face screams of guilt.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Suga says and Kuroo’s eyes blow wide.

“You two _didn’t_ -”

“Didn’t do _what_? What do you know what we did when you weren’t here, Tetsu-chan? We didn’t do the thing that you _think_ that we did because – it’s – how do you even – maybe _you_ did the thing that we didn’t do and cause you did the thing you think that _we_ did the thing so you could throw us off from knowing that you did the _thing_. _Huh, Tetsu-chan?_ ” Oikawa word vomits and Bokuto covers his mouth to keep his laughter down.

“Christ, Suga. Did you _literally_ fuck his brains out?” Kuroo asks and Suga turns to Oikawa’s beet red face.

“I didn’t break you, did I?”

“Kou-chan!” Oikawa wails and Daichi puts hands to his head.

“Oh my god, I don’t need to hear this! We’re not here for this! Show them the picture so we can just-”

“Is something going on in here?” a voice calls out and everyone turns to see a man entering with a clipboard in his arms. The man looks over all of them with sly eyes and smiles, sticking his hand out towards Kuroo. “Ah, you must be the other members of the rock band Takeda hired.”

Kuroo shakes his hand and the man gestures to himself. “Futakuchi Kenji. I’m Takeda’s assistant.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise. I’m sorry that you haven’t been able to practice yet, but the fog is clearing up so I can show you to the stage now if you like.”

“It’s alright,” Kuroo says with a handwave. “We’re more concerned about the karasu-tengu attacking us and everyone chasing us out of the village at the moment.”

Futakuchi blinks and then cocks his head to the side. “It _attacked_ you? I heard that there was something that destroyed some of the decorations at the inn, but I didn’t know it attacked someone.”

“You mean you weren’t there?” Daichi asks and Futakuchi rubs the back of his neck.

“The fog had gotten so heavy that Azumane and I were stuck at the outdoor stage for pretty much the whole night. The path leading up to the outdoor stage is pretty covered by trees and bushes and stuff. I didn’t want to get lost in the forest if I couldn’t see the trail,” Futakuchi says and Bokuto hums.

“Shouldn’t you know your way back? You’re a local here, right?”

Futakuchi smiles. “Actually, I’m from the city just like you. I’ve been here for about a month,” he states and Kuroo rubs his chin. _So he and Azumane have alibis_ , Kuroo thinks and throws an arm around Daichi and Bokuto.

“Well, we’ll head up to the stage when our bassist is back. We’re going to do some more sightseeing,” Kuroo says and Futakuchi laughs.

“What is there to see _here_? The shops might be fun the first day, but it gets dull the longer you’re exposed to it. Besides, I’d be careful if I were you. If there’s a karasu-tengu lurking around, I’d hate to see Takeda’s band get hurt.” There’s something in Futakuchi’s tone that sets off a red flag in Kuroo’s mind and he eyes the man’s smile sharply. Futakuchi gives his hand a wave. “Well, I’ll be off then. If you were looking for Takeda, he checking with Misaki for the village dancers. Watch out for monsters,” he says.

Kuroo smiles with clenched teeth and Futakuchi pushes past them to leave, dropping the smile when the man is out the door. “He rubs me the wrong way, I don’t like him,” Kuroo says and Daichi shrugs out of his grasp.

“He has an alibi though so he can’t be a suspect in all of this,” Daichi states and Oikawa tilts his head to the side.

“Suspect in all of _what_?”

Kuroo walks over and hands him his phone, Oikawa and Suga looking at the picture of footprints embedded in the mud. “Shoyou and I found those behind the inn. If a karasu-tengu can fly, why would they need to run away on foot?”

“Maybe they were tired. I’d be too after I just terrorized a bunch of innocent civilians,” Suga says nonchalantly and Kuroo rolls his eyes.

“There’s also a machine back there that Noya uses to get to the rooftop of the inn quickly. It’s supposed to pull him upwards like he’s flying and it can only pull lightweight things. However, when he tried to use it today, the rope snapped. There were also feathers up on the rooftop too.”

“So you think this is some guy in a costume that’s trying to scare us out of town?” Suga asks and Kuroo nods his head. Suga’s eyes grow bright with excitement and he balls his hands into fists. “So this is like some sort of monster mystery and we’re the amateur sleuths out on the case, looking for clues and bringing the perp to justice?”

Bokuto and Kuroo blink while Daichi places a hand to his forehead. “You’re just as bad as Shoyou. We’re _not_ detectives, this isn’t some Saturday morning cartoon or something. We could get _hurt_ trying to go after this person; it’s obvious they could care less about us if they’re willing to resort to throwing _fire_ at us,” Daichi explains and Oikawa waves his hand.

“Don’t worry, Dai-chan. I’m sure Tetsu-chan can protect you from the big, bad monster,” Oikawa says cutely and Kuroo flips him off while Bokuto grins.

“Looks like Oikawa’s brain is back. So, where do we start on our investigation?” Bokuto asks eagerly and Kuroo shrugs.

“We’ve been throughout the village and haven’t seen anything suspicious other than those footprints. We could give a more thorough scan of the village now that there’s more of us though. Plus, we haven’t checked out the stage yet. So far, the only people that’s been up that way was Futakuchi and that Azumane person. They’re as much as a suspect as Kamasaki,” Kuroo explains and places hands on his hips. “So we should probably split-”

“Wait, wait! I wanna say it!” Suga shouts and then clears his throat, gathering everyone into a not-needed huddle. “Guys, let’s split up and search for clues. Oikawa and I will check out the town and also around Kamasaki’s place while he’s still out while you three head to the outdoor stage.”

“Pft, and have you two get distracted and pork each other while we’re gone? No way, Bokuto’s going with you two,” Kuroo says and Oikawa glares at him.

“So you and _Dai-chan_ can be alone together? Unlike you, I’m not a heathen and promise to be pure during the investigation,” Oikawa says and Daichi growls.

“One, this _isn’t_ an investigation. Two, shut the _hell_ up, Oikawa. Three, Bokuto goes with you and I don’t want to hear another word. We need to take Shoyou anyways cause I’m not leaving him here alone by himself,” Daichi says and Bokuto nods his head.

“Everyone agree with Dad?”

“Yeah, we should listen to our elders,” Oikawa says with a sigh and Kuroo can see a vein on the side of Daichi’s forehead literally about to burst. They break out of their huddle and Bokuto, Oikawa and Suga take their leave back to the village. Kuroo turns to Daichi, small smirk on his lips.

“What’s wrong, Daddy?”

“Don’t call me that! Shut up! You’re all so stupid!” Daichi yells and buries his face in his hands, ears beet red. Kuroo laughs and rubs Daichi’s shoulder, feeling the hard muscle underneath Daichi’s cotton shirt.

“Relax, we’re going to be alright. Look, the cops aren’t going to come if they think we’re just pulling a prank. And no one else here is going to suspect that there’s someone in the village that’s doing all this. We got to find them ourselves. Like Shoyou said, you’re smart. You’ll figure this out.”

Daichi pulls his hands from his face and bites his lower lip, looking up at Kuroo with his eyes still holding a tinge of embarrassment, but also a humble shyness. “I’m not that smart. . .ok, how do you suppose we get up to the stage? We don’t know the way up here and since you don’t trust Futakuchi to show us the way-”

“I already have our guide in mind.”

* * *

 

“ _Uuuuggghh_ , how much longer?” Shoyou whines.

“I’d be going faster if you weren’t so heavy!” Kageyama barks, but doesn’t drop Shoyou from his piggyback ride up the path to the outdoor stage. Kuroo has to admit that it’s kind of cute watching Kageyama carefully move around branches and cautiously step over rocks like he’s holding the most precious of cargo. Either that, or the boy doesn’t want to do anything that’ll piss Daichi off.

The pathway is hidden by shrubbery and grown over plants, Daichi and Kuroo stepping around hedges to keep up with Kageyama and not get lost in the forest. Kuroo nearly steps into a burrow hole or two, but Daichi is usually right behind him to use steady hands to keep Kuroo balanced. Kuroo just hopes that how he shivers every time Daichi touches him isn’t obvious.

“Are you sure we’ll find anything up here?” Daichi asks and Kuroo shrugs.

“It’s worth checking out.”

“And if we _do_ find something out, then what do we do about the karasu-tengu?”

“Ah, you’re looking for the karasu-tengu?” Kageyama pipes up, adjusting his hold on Shoyou who’s hugging Kageyama’s neck so tightly, Kuroo’s surprised the boy can even _speak_. “Tanaka-san said he was going to catch it and make it tell him where the treasure is. Are you looking for the treasure too?” Kageyama asks and Kuroo raised an eyebrow.

“Treasure? What treasure?”

“The story about Karasuno’s rice fields. They said that there’s a treasure buried somewhere in Karasuno that makes the rice fields grow. No one knows what the treasure is, but people think that it’s gold that the karasu-tengu gave to the old villagers,” Kageyama explains. Shoyou squeals in delight and nuzzles his cheek into Kageyama’s hair.

“Let’s catch it and buy candy with the gold! Ne, Kageyama, what’s your favorite type of candy? I like the peanut butter ones that get stuck to your teeth. Is there a candy shop in the village?” Shoyou asks excitedly.

“That buried treasure is just a myth, though. Who actually believes that there’s buried treasure _here_ of all places?” Daichi asks and Kageyama hums.

“Noya thinks so. And Futakuchi-san always wants to know more about it. Tanaka-san’s been making us practice so that way, we’ll be expert treasure hunters and find the real one,” Kageyama replies. He pauses momentarily to carefully step over a moss-covered log, Kuroo amazed at the fact that the boy hasn’t thrown Shoyou off of him yet.

“Practice?”

“We borrow some fake treasure and hide them around the village, then we write a note and someone has to go find it. When one person finds it, they write a note and then they have to hide new treasure somewhere else,” Kageyama explains and then he grins devilishly. “Tanaka-san said he hid something _really_ good and I wanna be the one to find it.”

Kuroo’s never seen such a scary expression of determination on a six-year old in his entire life.

“You kids shouldn’t be stealing things and hiding them around the village. What if someone really needs it?” Daichi poses the question and Kageyama huffs. Shoyou huffs too for some reason and Kuroo huffs as well. Daichi scowls. “Don’t think I’m spoiling their fun! I’m serious!”

“We return it if we find it. That’s why we always hide a new treasure. Takeda-san let’s us hide his stuff all the time,” Kageyama says with a pout. _Probably because Takeda can’t keep up with you all to realize what’s missing in the first place_ , Kuroo thinks with a fond smile. Daichi gives his chin a thoughtful rub.

“You don’t think the village scamps are just playing a very cruel prank on us, do you?”

“I know children may be devious but you might be giving them too much credit,” Kuroo deadpans and Daichi crosses his arms.

“Good point. Who else would have a reason to try and chase us out of town?”

“Kamasaki.”

“He’s your only suspect, that’s not a good reason.”

“He doesn’t like us. What other reason do you need?” Kuroo says sharply and Kageyama stops when the path they’re on becomes easier to spot and starts to lead into an open clearing. There’s a large amphitheater up ahead with large trees framing it, covered in streamers and lanterns connecting the lamp posts all around the opening. There’s foxes painted on the wooden pillars of the stage, looking fresh as if they were only added just yesterday.

Shoyou finally climbs off Kageyama to marvel at the large stage, turning to Kuroo with big eyes. “You guys are going to play here?! It’s huge! Is there going to be a billion people here?!” Shoyou asks and Kuroo shrugs.

“Something like that.”

“ _UWAHHH!_ Oikawa-nii is so cool that he got a stage this big for you!” Shoyou gushes, and Kuroo’s glad that Oikawa isn’t anywhere near to hear otherwise his ego would have inflated tenfold.

“Why don’t you two play around here for a little bit while me and Daichi look around the stage and plan where everything is going to go,” Kuroo says and Shoyou pouts.

“But I want to look for the karasu-tengu and get candy.”

Kuroo places a hand to his cheek. “Shoyou! I think I saw it fly over there!” Kuroo exclaims and points in a random direction off towards the backside of the stage. Shoyou jumps and whirls around so fast, his arms swing out and whack Kageyama in the side.

“Where?! Where?!”

“Oi! Watch it, stupid!” Kageyama yells and Kuroo jumps up and down, pointing excitedly.

“Over there! Hurry! It’s getting away!”

“Kageyama, let’s go!” Shoyou screeches and yanks Kageyama off to chase a non-exstent karasu-tengu. Kuroo smiles and turns to Daichi, wiggling his eyebrows.

“So, looks like we’re alone,” Kuroo says and Daichi scoffs.

“So much for keeping yourself pure when we’re alone,” Daichi mutters and Kuroo feigns shock, giving Daichi a light push.

“Sawamura, are you going to take _advantage_ of me now that the children are gone?!”

“Kuroo, shut up and let’s find whatever it is you’re expecting to find up here,” Daichi grumbles and Kuroo smiles. He gestures for Daichi to lead the way and the two head towards the stage. There’s a set of stairs behind one of the wooden pillars that allows for easy access, swept clean of any dirt. There’s paint cans all over the stage and also some painted handprints and footprints all scattered around the surface of the stage and along the pillars. The village scamps probably got into it when Azumane wasn’t working.

“Where is Azumane anyways?” Kuroo asks out loud and Daichi pulls back the curtains just in case someone would be hiding behind them in some sort of mystery cliché.

“He could have just taken a break. Or maybe he went home; the fog is gone and the path is visible enough for them to find their way back to the village at least,” Daichi says and Kuroo nods his head at that. Azumane could also be heading back up to the stage from taking a break or had to go to the village to get some supplies. Which means they better search every inch of the stage before someone comes across and asks them what they’re doing.

“I’ll check this side while you check-” Kuroo pauses when he hears _someone_ scream _very loud_. The scream wasn’t Daichi and the voice was far too deep to be either Kageyama or Shoyou. But shortly after the scream, Kuroo does hear Shoyou shout out, “I caught him! I caught the karasu-tengu!”.


	4. a night of fright is no delight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> kuroo and daichi have moments and the monster strikes again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah next chapter will just be the longest chapter because if i split it in half, then the identity of the monster will be revealed and there'd be one more chapter to go, so i rather have it all in one than split it up and spoil the surprise. or maybe just make chapter five halfway and then a sort of epilogue later

Daichi takes off running in an instant, Kuroo quickly taking after him as Daichi leaps off the stage and runs behind the amphitheater to where he hears his brother screaming in joy. Daichi darts past a few bushes and into a small clearing in the back, Kuroo following and pausing to take a breather because he didn’t know Daichi could run so _fast_ and _man_ , he was really out of shape to be breathing this hard from such a short run.

Shoyou is seated on top of a man’s back, pulling on his hair like he’s trying to rip off a mask. Kageyama is trying to yank Shoyou off of him, screaming and shouting just as loud as Shoyou. Daichi squawks and runs to yank Shoyou off of the man’s back.

“Shoyou! Stop! What’re you doing?!”

“I found him, Daichi! I found the karasu-tengu!”

“Shoyou, does he _look_ like a karasu-tengu?!” Daichi asks and Shoyou blinks, before he looks at the man slowly getting to his knees and holding his head.

“Um. . .w-well he looked kinda suspicious at first. . .” Shoyou bites his lower lip and looks at his brother with big, round eyes. “I’m sorry, Daichi.”

“Don’t apologize to _me_ ,” Daichi snaps and Kuroo helps the man onto his feet. He’s bigger than Kuroo and looks like he may be stronger than him too. The man has a white gauze tied around his head and looks rather pitiful, if Kuroo is being completely honest. Daichi holds Shoyou out towards the man and Shoyou ducks his head in shame.

“Sorry for attacking you,” Shoyou mumbles and the man gives a weak smile full of fondness.

“It’s alright. I thought you were Tanaka at first when I saw Kageyama,” the man explains and Kuroo blinks.

“Ah, then are you Azumane?”

The man blinks then slowly gives a nod of his head. “Azumane Asahi. I run the daycare and put together special events for the kids. And you are?”

“Kuroo Tetsurou, the frontman for the band Takeda hired to perform for the festival. This is Sawamura Daichi, a friend, and the little scamp that tried to pull your hair out is his brother Shoyou,” Kuroo states with a hand gesture to Shoyou and Daichi. Asahi bows his head and smiles warmly, looking a lot less terrifying and more humble, like he _does_ belong amongst the children of the village.

“Ah, are you going to practice? The stage is pretty much all set up with the lighting and decorations-”

“We’re just looking around so we could get a good idea for our set-up. Were you here all night decorating, Azumane-san?” Kuroo asks nonchalantly and Asahi nods his head. He reaches down to grab his bento box (did Shoyou ambush him on the guy’s _lunch_?) and places it into a worn out backpack.

“The fog made it hard for me to leave, but there’s a small cabin out here that Yuu uses to keep extra futons and blankets for the inn. Plus, I was feeling a little dazed, so I didn’t want to wander out and get lost.”

“Dazed?” Daichi asks and Asahi touches the gauze around his head.

“I must have accidentally hit my head yesterday, cause when I finally came to, it was extremely late and foggy and Futakuchi-san had suggested that we stay out here cause it’d be too much of a hassle to try and make it back to the village like this,” Asahi says and Kuroo frowns.

“‘Came to’? You mean you were knocked unconscious?” Kuroo asks and Asahi rubs the back of his neck and gives a pathetic chuckle.

“Yeah. I must have hit my head pretty hard. I remember being on the stage painting some murals of foxes, and then the next thing I knew, I was in the cabin. I’m not sure how long I was out. . .why? Did something happen?”

“A karasu-tengu attacked the village, Asahi-san,” Kageyama states simply and Shoyou jumps in his spot.

“But we’re going to catch it and get the gold!” Shoyou exclaims. Asahi blinks, before he laughs and ruffles Kageyama and Shoyou’s hair.

“Karasu-tengus don’t exist, boys. Yuu’s been telling too many of those yokai stories?” Asahi asks and Shoyou puffs his cheeks.

“But it’s the truth!” he cries out and Asahi laughs again, turning to Daichi and Kuroo.

“I’m going to head down to the village and let Takeda know the stage is complete and that Misaki and the dancers can come up to practice. You’re free to set up your equipment if you like, there should be a clipboard on the stage detaling the layout,” Asahi explains and Daichi quickly bows his head.

“Thank you, Azumane-san. We won’t be too long up here,” Daichi says. Asahi nods his head and gives one more gentle ruffle of Kageyama’s hair before he leaves the clearing, holding his head as he slowly makes his descent down the path to the village. Kuroo watches him go and crosses his arms, looking down at Shoyou pouting.

“I guess I’ll buy you candy since you didn’t catch the karasu-tengu,” Kuroo mentions and Shoyou’s eyes brighten.

“Really?!”

“If your brother says it’s okay-”

“Please, please _please_ Daichi!” Shoyou begs and clings to Daichi’s legs. Daichi sighs and wriggles out of his little brother’s hold.

“Fine. You and Kageyama can play until we’re done up here. Promise me you won’t get into anything?” Daichi asks and Shoyou sticks his pinky out. Daichi smiles and links his pink with Shoyou’s, shaking once, twice, before their fingers unlink. Shoyou turns to Kageyama and suggest to go stag beetle hunting close by while Daichi and Kuroo make their way back towards the stage, a small smile tugging at Kuroo’s lips.

“You still pinky swear? Didn’t you stop that in middle school?”

“Shut up, it’s our thing,” Daichi grumbles and gets onto the stage to look for the clipboard. Kuroo climbs on afterwards and glances at the mural of foxes on the back wall. It looks like it was done with a lot of attention to detail and love, Kuroo not even sure how long it must have taken Asahi to have finished it. He walks over and brushes gentle fingertips against it, looking at the foxes running over the hill with children dancing and singing in the sun.

“Azumane-san isn’t our culprit,” Kuroo states and Daichi looks at him.

“What makes you think that?”

“Come on, Sawamura. You expect me to believe a guy that spends his time playing with the village scamps and painting happy pictures could want to _hurt_ us and scare us out town?” Kuroo asks and Daichi rubs his chin.

“It’s always the one you least expect in the mystery novels though.”

“I thought you said we weren’t treating this like we’re the stereotypical detectives.”

Daichi huffs. “Well, since you just wrangled us into this mess we might as well look at all of our options. We know that Kamasaki doesn’t like us, so he could be the most likely suspect. According to you, Futakuchi-san is a suspect because you don’t like him-”

“That is _not_ my reason,” Kuroo spits and gestures to the mural. “We know that Azumane-san was painting this mural when he said that he suddenly lost conscious and wound up in that cabin. If that’s the case, then how did he hit his head? Also, that means that Futakuchi’s whereabouts are unaccounted for if Azumane-san can’t say where he was.”

“Azumane-san could also be lying that he hit his head and slipped away when Futakuchi-san wasn’t looking.”

Kuroo snorts and shakes his head. “You’re a terrible detective, Sawamura.”

“Tch, like _you’re_ one to talk,” Daichi mumbles and checks around the curtains once more. “Oh, here it is!” he exclaims and picks the clipboard off the ground, turning the pages over and hums. “Shoyou’s right, this place _is_ pretty big.”

“Bokuto has this big finale all set up. He brought his sound machine with him, you know.”

Daichi winces. “Doesn’t his sound machine only have bird noises and him squawking on it?”

Kuroo grins. “Picture it, Sawamura. You’re playing a sick guitar solo and just as you reach the highest point, _bam!_ The sound of an eagle screeching just makes it more _epic_.”

Daichi rolls his eyes. “Sounds like it’ll be a shame to miss.”

“Wait, you’re not going to stay for the festival?”

“I’m just indulging you in this ‘investigation’ thing. Once we find out who this karasu-tengu is and they’re arrested, I’m taking Shoyou and we’re going home,” Daichi explains and Kuroo gives a strangled laugh like someone just punched him in his gut with brass knuckles.

“O-Oh, well yeah. You’re missing out. It’s going to be a great performance and you know, since you never heard us play and I thought this would be a great first gig for you-”

“I can ask Oikawa to film it for me or something,” Daichi says quickly and Kuroo feels his face growing hot. Does he sound like he’s _begging_? He must sound so _down_ , god _snap out of it!_

“No, he doesn’t need to-”

“I just don’t want to flake out two days in a row and my mom will probably get worried-“

“Y-Yeah, she probably misses Shoyou and he’ll start wanting to see her-”

“But I _would_ want to stay, Kuroo,” Daichi admits quietly and looks up at him through his eyelashes. “I know you’re all really talented and it’s going to be a great show. They’re going to love you.”

Kuroo swallows hard, his throat feeling drier than sandpaper and his knees felt like they were going to give way any second. Kuroo averts his eyes from Daichi’s warm gaze, his brain wracking for a cohesive thought that didn’t blurt out all of his feelings in one stupid blurb. “I. . .thanks. Um, we should. . .look for clues. . .”

Daichi nods his head slowly and looks back at the clipboard, smiling to himself. Kuroo turns and sucks in a deep breath, wishing his heart would either go back to normal or just stop entirely so he could die and stop feeling so _lame_.

Kuroo walks to the far corner of the stage where there’s some paint buckets and steps leading to the back of the theater. They’re stacked up in a way and it looks like some of the village scamps got into the white paint since there’s a white splatter underneath.

“Sheesh, the kids got into everything here,” he grumbles and moves the paint cans out of the way to check if there’s any damage on the stage. But to his surprise, there isn’t any regular paint splatter underneath. There’s a crow _footprint_. The same type of footprints that were behind Noya’s inn. Kuroo grins and rubs his finger against the footprint.

A little paint comes off, so it’s not as fresh as he thought it was. But it _does_ let him know that the culprit came to the stage, probably when they fled the crime scene last night.

“Found some footprints,” Kuroo calls to Daichi and Daichi walks over, crouching next to Kuroo and shows him something on the clipboard.

“Found a list,” Daichi says and Kuroo raises an eyebrow, taking the clipboard to have a good look. There’s a list of locations and names, some locations crossed out with a bright red pen.

“What the heck is this?”

“Not sure. But look, right here next to ‘Misaki’ it says ‘costume’. And then also next to ‘Narita’ it says speakers. The souvenir shop, the bathhouse and the inn are crossed out. So is this stage area,” Daichi points out. Kuroo hands the clipboard back to Daichi, not sure what to make of it.

“Maybe they’re donating that stuff for the festival,” Kuroo says, rather unsure of himself. Daichi stands to his feet and places the clipboard near the column.

“What is Noya donating? Wouldn’t there be something next to his name too?”

Kuroo crosses his arms. “I don’t know, I don’t understand it. . .if it’s a list of people donating stuff for the festival and maybe locations for tourists, who do you think would need a list like that?”

“Probably Takeda or Futakuchi-san since they’re supposed to be organizing it,” Daichi answers and Kuroo nods his head. He doesn’t know if Takeda has been up here since the first sighting of the karasu-tengu, so he’s not 100% sure that the list belongs to him. But he can’t prove that this list is Futakuchi’s either. Kuroo groans and leans against the back wall of the stage.

“If this was some mystery show, by now we would have found some sort of secret passage leading to the villain’s hideout where we’d find some damning evidence,” Kuroo mumbles and Daichi smiles, moving over to the side where the controls for the stage lights and sandbags were stationed on the wall.

“And then we’d set up some kooky trap to catch the bad guy and unmask them in front of everyone?”

Kuroo smiles back at him, but averts his eyes when he feels he’s staring at Daichi for a little bit longer than needed. Kuroo yawns and stretches his arms. “Come on, let’s grab the boys and head back to the village before it gets too dar-”

_FWOOSH!_

The next thing Kuroo realizes, he’s falling straight down and right onto a lumpy mattress below. Wherever he landed, the place is dark and a cloud of dust comes up immediately when he lands onto the mattress. There’s clanging all around him, shovels and other digging tools falling haphazardly.

“Fuck! Oh my god, Kuroo! Kuroo!” Daichi screams up above and a few seconds later, Daichi’s head is poking out from the opening in the stage floor above. Kuroo winces and gets to his knees at least, looking up at Daichi and gives a lazy grin.

“Sawamura, did you pull a lever to activate that trap door?”

“I-I didn’t know that would happen! I thought it was for a light! You’re not hurt, are you?! Can you stand up?!” Daichi asks, eyes panicky and leaning in so far Kuroo thinks that he might fall into the trap door as well.

“I’m alright thanks to this mattress being down here. Stop leaning in before you fall too,” Kuroo says and dusts himself off. He looks at the digging tools and pushes them aside with his foot, blindly feeling around for some sort of light switch or something so he can see. His fingertips brush against the wall and move upwards to find a dangling chain. The moment he pulls it, the room below is filled with light and Kuroo is face to face with a red oni.

Kuroo yells and stumbles back, tripping on a paint can and falls flat on his ass. “Kuroo!” Daichi shouts out worriedly and Kuroo groans.

“I’m alright, I’m alright,” he says and looks up to find the red oni is just a costume hanging on the wall. In fact, there is several costumes hanging in a row, some of them looking like they were just worn while others had a thin layer of dust settling on them. There’s a blank space in between the kappa and samurai costume and though there’s no label saying what belonged there, the few feathers on the floor underneath the hook gives Kuroo a clue.

“I think I know what costume got loaned out,” Kuroo calls out to Daichi. Right after he does so, he hears Daichi shout and another cloud of dust erupts behind him. Kuroo turns and fans away the dust, seeing Daichi lying on the mattress and rubbing his head. Kuroo rushes over and helps Daichi to his feet, steadying him with trembling hands on his waist. “What do you think you’re doing? How are we supposed to get out of here now?” Kuroo asks and Daichi looks down.

“I just. . .I got worried-”

“Aw, Sawamura, you _do_ care,” Kuroo teases and Daichi shoves him away, crossing his arms in a huff. Daichi cautiously steps over the shovels and looks at the costumes himself, picking up a black crow feather to inspect it.

“So the karasu-tengu is a person in a costume. Maybe someone stole the costume from down here,” Daichi suggests.

“Yeah, but it would be weird to see someone lugging around a costume in the village. We would have noticed by now, wouldn’t we?”

“Maybe they stole it and hid it somewhere in the village,” Kuroo mutters and sneezes. “Let’s get out of here. It smells like a museum-”

_FWOOOSH!_

Both of them turn when the trap door quickly slides shut and Kuroo almost trips again trying to run back to the mattress. “H-Hey! We’re down here! Hello?! Let us out!” Kuroo shouts and turns to Daichi, his eyes wide.

“Shoyou and Kageyama are still out there! What if it’s the culprit and they catch them – we need to get out of here!” Daichi screeches and stumbles over the shovels to find a door or stairs.

Kuroo grabs a shovel and starts to jab it upwards into the trap door, promising to pay for any damages later as he tries to break the door open. He pauses when he hears Daichi mumbling to himself in between quick breaths, turning to see Daichi wringing his short hair and pacing back and forth.

“The one moment I turn my back on him, he gets into trouble. What if they _hurt them_? I should have taken him home this morning. Holy fuck if Shoyou gets _hurt_ -” Kuroo is by his side in an instant and his hands find their way to hold Daichi’s face, forcing Daichi to look him in his eyes.

“Calm _down_. Shoyou is a smart kid and he’s a tough one. They’re alright, but we’re not going to get out of here if you freak out and lose your cool,” Kuroo says calmly and smiles, “Come on, you’re the responsible one in the group, remember? You’re the ‘Dad’ and I’m the fun ‘Uncle’. So if we put our brains together, we should have like ‘Grandpa’ knowledge and figure out how to get out of here.”

“That doesn’t even make any sense,” Daichi breathes and Kuroo rubs his thumb against Daichi’s cheekbone.

“See, you’re better already,” Kuroo says cheekily and Daichi bites his lower lip, Kuroo feeling how warm Daichi skin gets beneath his fingertips. “You’re okay. We’re okay. We’re going to get out of here.”

“. . .Alright,” Daichi says, voice low and soft. Kuroo pulls his hands away, relishing the touch of Daichi’s cheek and already wishing to touch it again. Daichi looks around and takes a deep breath. “There has got to be some sort of way people can get down here without using the trapdoor. Like, some sort of passageway or a door or _something_.”

Daichi quickly began to run his hands along any exposed area of wall, searching for the door that will lead them out of here. Kuroo crosses to the other wall on the opposite side and begins to do the same, running his hands over dusty panels and wooden pillars holding the room up. People will come looking for them if it gets too late, he hopes. Shoyou and Kageyama are perfectly fine above ground and are probably still playing in the sun. He hopes that everything will be alright, he _knows_ that they’ll find the exit-

Kuroo pushes aside a box and sees a door hidden by towering boxes and paint cans. “I found it!” Kuroo shouts and Daichi immediately crosses the cluttered floor to be at his side, both of them moving the junk out of the way in quick haste. Once Kuroo can see the door handle, he reaches out and shakes it, lurching forward to slam his body up against the door. The door opens just a smidge and Kuroo pushes more of his weight on it as Daichi tries to help.

The door opens up wider and Kuroo and Daichi slip out of the room and enter a small area with steps leading up towards bright light. Kuroo huffs and Daichi runs up the stairs. “Shoyou?! Shoyou! Kageyama-kun! Boys!” Daichi shouts and Kuroo climbs the stairs to start looking for the boys as well. They were behind the theatre, close to where Asahi was eating his lunch. Kuroo sees that there are some black feathers caught in the bushes next to them, heart growing momentarily heavy as he sees Daichi start to drift farther and farther away from the area that they told the boys could play in.

“Shoyou! Shoyou, are you out here?!” Daichi screams and runs down the hill with Kuroo following quickly after him. Up ahead, there is a small wooden cabin with scratch marks on the door. Kuroo swallows hard and approaches the cabin while Daichi starts looking in the bushes around them and up the trees. Kuroo jiggles the doorknob and hears something fall inside the cabin. Can it be the culprit? What if the kids are still playing and they ended up chasing the bad guy into a spot where they’re trapped? Kuroo readies his fists just in case and tries to open up the cabin once more. “Open up! Whoever’s in there better open up right now!” he growls out with extra venom in his tongue and shifts his weight in order to throw his body right into the door. A cry sounds from inside that sounds like Shoyou and Kuroo grits his teeth, ramming his body into the door. “I _said_ open-”

Kuroo falls forward from the door swinging open and something hard slams into his stomach, taking his breath away from one single hit. He falls back and the attacker continues to whack his body with some sort of piping, screaming manically as they did so.

“Kageyama! Kageyama, stop! It’s Kuroo!” Shoyou cries out and Kuroo sees that Kageyama is the one hitting him, eyes scrunched tight and swinging the pipe around wildly. Shoyou pulls Kageyama back as Daichi rushes over and helps Kuroo to his feet and check for any bruises. Kageyama stops swinging the pipe and opens his eyes, clutching the weapon to his chest and breathing hard.

“W-Where is it? Where’s the karasu-tengu?” Kageyama breathes and Daichi bends down to hug them both.

“Oh thank _god_ you’re safe,” he pants and Shoyou hugs him back, patting his head and rubbing it in soft circles like this time _he_ is the one trying to console and calm.

“That karasu-tengu was here?” Kuroo asks, ignoring the slight stinging pain in his arms and sides. Kageyama nods and wrings the pipe in his hands.

“We were playing and then all of a sudden, it came out of nowhere and tried to grab us. So we ran and hid in the shack, but it must have left,” Kageyama says and looks down at the ground shamefully. “I thought I could fight it when I found this pipe, but I was too scared to go out and look for it.”

“You shouldn’t, we don’t know what we’re dealing with here,” Kuroo says and takes the pipe from Kageyama. There’s flecks of something red on one end of the pipe that don’t look fresh, Kuroo peering at it and turning it from all angles. “You found this pipe in there? This is the shack that Azumane-san was in, right?”

“Yeah. There’s a bunch of blankets and extra futons and emergency supplies and rations in there. Why?”

“Nothing, just curious,” Kuroo says and tosses the pipe back into the cabin. If what he guesses those red splotches to be is correct, Asahi didn’t just hit his head, he was _assaulted_. The person would have then moved Asahi into the cabin and hid the pipe to cover up their crime. Asahi is a big guy, no doubt extremely heavy when unconscious. The culprit must be very strong to be able to lift someone like the gentle daycare teacher.

“If they saw the karasu-tengu, then it must be heading back down the mountain to attack the village. We got to warn them,” Daichi says and Kuroo nods his head. Daichi grabs hold of Shoyou’s hand and Shoyou takes hold of Kageyama’s. “Let’s hurry before it’s too late.”

* * *

 

By the time they reach the village, a light fog is beginning to settle and the sky is turning dark. The fog is not as heavy as it was yesterday evening, Kuroo positive that this must be the fog generated by the machines placed somewhere in the village. Kageyama breaks away from Shoyou, determined look in his eyes.

“I’m going to tell Takeda!” he blurts out and dashes off down the road towards Takeda’s house before anyone could stop him. Daichi pulls Shoyou close to him, eyes darting around nervously while Kuroo spots the others down the road and flags them over. Bokuto is the fastest to approach them, something round gripped tight in his fist.

“Dude! Akaashi found something!” Bokuto shouts and shoves the thing he’s holding in Kuroo’s face. Kuroo swats his hand away and takes the thing himself, inspecting what appears to be a small little speaker. Kuroo quirks an eyebrow as they all draw in close, turning it over in his hand.

“Where did you get this speaker?”

“When I was leaving the bathhouse, I found it stuck in one of the drain pipes near the bathhouse sign. When I asked the owner about them, he mentioned that he has some set up for ambience and he’s in charge of music and electrical stuff for the festival. Bokuto ripped that one out of a bush behind Noya’s cart.”

“And get this, right before you guys showed up, the thing started _cawing_. Exactly like the karasu-tengu did,” Suga explains and Oikawa crosses his arms.

“It was only for a minute or so, then it stopped immediately. We don’t know if the battery died or what.”

“You mean he didn’t show up yet?” Kuroo asks and Akaashi raises an eyebrow.

“What do you mean?”

“The karasu-tengu. We were up at the stage and he trapped us down below, then tried to go after Shoyou and Kageyama,” Daichi explains and Oikawa turns to Shoyou, concerned.

“You’re alright?”

“Yeah. Kuroo came and scared it away,” Shoyou says and Kuroo awkwardly rubs the back of his neck, trying to keep his ego from inflating with pride.

“Did you find anything up there? What did you find out about Azumane?” Suga asks and Kuroo crosses his arms.

“He’s not our guy. Matter of fact, he was assaulted by someone and doesn’t even remember what happened up there. I found a pipe with a few flecks of red on it, probably his blood.”

“But the only person that was up there with him was Futakuchi, right? . . .Do you think he attacked him?”

Kuroo nods his head yes and Daichi shakes his head no. “We can’t jump to conclusions. For one thing, what reason would Futakuchi feel the need to assault Azumane? He’s Takeda’s assistant; if he really wanted to get out of setting up the stage, he would have just said something came up with Takeda and leave,” Daichi replies and Akaashi nods his head.

“We _are_ still missing a motive for why anyone is even trying to terrorize the citizens anyways. Futakuchi’s right, there isn’t anything really here-”

“ **SO YOU HAVE DECIDED TO IGNORE MY WARNING!** ”

Everyone’s heads whirl to look upwards, seeing that the karasu-tengu is standing atop the bathhouse glaring down at them with glowing yellow eyes. Shoyou immediately hides behind Daichi’s legs and Kuroo steps forward with a smirk.

“We were just talking about you! Listen, we all know that this is just some hoax, so if you come down here now I won’t kick your ass as hard!” Kuroo shouts and the karasu-tengu raises its hands outwards.

“ **NON-BELIEVERS WILL BE PUNISHED FOR THEIR INSOLENCE! YOU HAVE DISGUSTED ME AND FOR THAT, I SHALL TAKE SOMETHING OF YOURS! THE VILLAGERS OF KARASUNO ARE NO LONGER WORTHY OF MY GIFT!** ”

Something explodes by Kuroo’s feet and he jumps back as smoke and a small fire erupts from all around them. The sound of cawing echoes around him and Kuroo covers his eyes, barely able to see the karasu-tengu gracefully jump from the roof.

“He’s getting away!” Kuroo coughs out and runs after the culprit. He pushes and stumbles through the bushes, trying not to lose sight of the shadowy figure getting further and further into the woods. The costume must be lighter than Kuroo believed if they’re able to flee so quickly. He grits his teeth and tries to pick up the pace, bringing his foot down into the dirt and sparks immediately erupting at his feet.

Kuroo jumps back and curses, eyes darting around for anything else about to explode, before he steps closer and looks down at the ground where a freshly detonated firecracker laid.

“The guy is throwing fireworks at us,” Kuroo mumbles and looks up, seeing that the shadow has long since disappeared into the dark. There’s no way he could chase after them, not when he didn’t know where he was going or whatever tricks the culprit had up their sleeve. He kicks the firecracker off to the side and stalks back to the village, faintly hearing the shouts and cries from frantic villagers yet again.

The others are safe and huddled together far from where the karasu-tengu was spotted as Kuroo approaches them, Daichi holding Shoyou close to him as he gives a sigh.  “I’m not a fan of almost exploding whenever that thing comes around,” he mutters and Kuroo sticks his hands into his pockets.

“He’s throwing fireworks. It’s nothing magical,” Kuroo states and Suga hums.

“Wasn’t Azumane in charge of fireworks for the festival? Where did the karasu-tengu get them from?”

“Don’t know. We also don’t know who took the costume from up under the stage either,” Kuroo explains.

“What the hell did he mean he’d take something of ours?” Bokuto asks and Oikawa frowns.

“Maybe we should check the inn for anything that might be stolen,” he suggests and everyone nods their heads, Kuroo giving one last scornful look out into the forest where the culprit fled.

* * *

 

“If that bastard thinks that he can throw fire and burn up our village, he got another thing coming!” Noya shouts and is pulling Asahi by his wrist. “Asahi! We’re going to hunt him down! We’re going to interrogate everybody and find out who’s doing this!”

“We can’t _do that_ , Yuu,” Asahi says weakly, but Noya is far too filled with righteous fury to be reasoned with. The band enters as Noya is trying to pull Asahi out of his office, while some villagers were already inside the inn taking refuge from the attack. Kamasaki’s face darkens when he sees them, pushing through the crowd just as Kuroo is pushing forward to confront him.

“Look what you’ve done now. We established the reason that the karasu-tengu was attacking us is because _you’re_ here and this festival is taking place! You need to leave!” Kamasaki shouts and Kuroo balls his hands into fists.

“Someone is terrorizing you people, but it isn’t us. So we shouldn’t have to leave. But what about you, Kamasaki?”

“What are you talking about?” Kamasaki growls out and Kuroo crosses his arms.

“So far, you’re the only person here that doesn’t want the festival to continue and don’t like us. Plus, you’re a pretty big guy. Big enough to knock someone out like Asahi and big enough to fill that karasu-tengu suit,” Kuroo states and Kamasaki steps back, his jaw hanging agape.

“Are you accusing me of attacking _my_ village?! You snot-nosed punk, what do you know about me?!”

“I know that out of everyone here, _you’re_ the suspicious one.”

Daichi pulls Kuroo back as Kamasaki seethes, looking at the man worriedly. “Look, we don’t want to cause any trouble. But we _have_ found evidence that there’s someone here dressed up like a karasu-tengu-”

“And where does it say that _I’m_ the one doing it?!”

“Well where’s _your_ proof that _we’re_ the culprits?!”

“No one knows who the culprit is!” Oikawa shouts and looks around. “The _point_ is that the festival is supposed to start tomorrow evening and we have some lunatic running around here terrorizing the villagers. We don’t know what it wants and we don’t know if we leave and the festival is canceled will solve anything.”

“What else could the karasu-tengu want? He wants all the non-believers out of here like it should be,” Kamasaki grumbles and shoves past Kuroo to leave. Kuroo turns to watch him depart just as Takeda is running into the inn sweaty and out of breath.

“Is everyone all right?! I just was notified there’s been another attack-”

“Didn’t Kageyama warn you about it earlier?” Daichi asks and Takeda shakes his head.

“I haven’t seen him since he left with you all to head to the stage. H-He isn’t here?” Takeda asks and Daichi shakes his head. Takeda pushes his glasses up his nose with a shaky hand. “M-Maybe he stopped home and got tied up with something. That. . .that could be a possibility. . .”

“Maybe we should go looking for him. He shouldn’t have gotten far,” Suga suggests and Takeda swallows, turning to the villagers.

“Everyone, return to your homes. Tomorrow, I’ll see about bringing the police into this and hopefully, we’ll get down to the bottom of this. Noya-san, if you could put your witch hunt on hold for a moment, you could help me look for Kageyama-kun,” Takeda says and Noya nods his head, finally managing to drag Asahi out of the office room. Takeda turns to the band and bows his head. “I’m sorry, but if it isn’t too much trouble-”

“We’ll help you look for him. I’m getting worried,” Daichi says before Takeda could even ask and looks down at Shoyou. “Shoyou, you wait in the room-”

“I wanna help look too!”

“Shoyou, I want you to just stay _put_ somewhere-”

“Shoyou, you and I can stay here while they go and get Kageyama-kun,” Kuroo speaks up and bends down to Shoyou’s eye level. “We can also look over some evidence and do some snooping,” he whispers low in the child’s ear and Shoyou’s eyes brighten. He nods his head firmly and rushes to Kuroo’s side.

“Okay! I’ll stay here with Kuroo! Go and find Kageyama, Daichi! And promise you’ll be safe too!” Shoyou shouts and holds his pinky out for Daichi to hook his around and shake. Daichi looks up at Kuroo and holds his pinky out towards the guitarist.

“Same goes for you. Be safe and don’t let him out of your sight,” Daichi says softly and Kuroo turns red, averting his eyes as a shaky pinky links with Daichi’s. They haven’t done this since elementary, when Daichi was just plain Daichi and not this _thing_ that Kuroo feels for him.

“He’ll be safe with me. Promise,” Kuroo says and Daichi smiles.

“Aw, you two are sweet,” Takeda says ever so kindly. Oikawa and Bokuto snort while Kuroo and Daichi’s hands immediately retreat back to their sides with their faces red in embarrassment. Daichi’s mouth turns into an awkward smile towards Takeda and he sighs through his nose, nodding his head to Kuroo and Shoyou before he briskly walks out of the inn with Suga and the others following quickly behind him.

Shoyou turns to Kuroo and Kuroo swears he can see stars in Shoyou’s eyes. “So, where are we gonna snoop first?! Are we gonna find a hidden passage?! We should get a weapon first!”

“The first place we snoop is where we saw the karasu-tengu tonight. So we need to head to the bathhouse. Let’s go out back so Daichi doesn’t notice us leaving too,” Kuroo suggests and Shoyou clutches tight to Kuroo’s hand. He beams up at Kuroo with a smile so big and adoring and Kuroo feels like the world is in his hands.

* * *

 

The area around the bathhouse is vacant and dark; some of the lanterns that were hanging are blown out and a chill settles over Kuroo’s skin. This village is definitely creepy when it gets dark, he’s half expecting a monster to just pop out and scare the two of them right now. Shoyou picks up a stick and holds it outwards like it’s a sword, his other hand holding Kuroo’s and squeezing tight.

They walk around the building to where Kuroo remembers seeing the karasu-tengu jump down from. There’s a mess of lanterns on the ground, smashed in and lopsided. The rope that they were hanging from is broken in two, much like how Noya’s rope was broken this morning. Kuroo picks up the rope and inspects it while Shoyou whacks the bushes nearby a couple of times just in case the karasu-tengu was trying to sneak up on them.

“He must have used this rope to swing down and knocked off the lanterns. This guy is agile and quick enough to jump and run, but big enough to wear the suit,” Kuroo says to himself. He can’t picture Kamasaki gracefully jumping down and dashing off so quickly for being middle-aged. He also can’t see Asahi jumping down from the building without giving himself some sort of concussion or some other unfortunate accident happening.

Kuroo releases the rope and steps into the bushes, straining his eyes to see any feathers or some other evidence to tell which direction the culprit fled. He places his hand to the ground to feel out any feathers, when Shoyou begins to screech. Kuroo turns abruptly, ready to snatch Shoyou up close to him and make a run for it, before he realizes that Shoyou is dancing around happily and holding up something shiny.

“Look, Kuroo! Look! It’s so pretty! Is it real?! I’m gonna use this to buy candy for me and Kageyama!” Shoyou bellows and then holds the item close to his chest, face going thoughtful. “D-Does Akaashi like candy? Maybe I can get some for him too-”

“Let me see that before you start planning your date with Akaashi and Kageyama,” Kuroo says and Shoyou hands him the item. On closer inspection, Kuroo sees that the item appears to be an inro with gold tracing the cherry blossom stems. There’s an engraving in it, old kanji characters that Kuroo has no idea how to pronounce. Kuroo opens it just a smidge to see small gold coins inside, caked with a thin layer of dust. “This must be something that the scamps hid. You better hold off on that date, this isn’t yours to spend,” Kuroo says and Shoyou furrows his eyebrows and puffs his cheeks.

“Boo,” Shoyou pouts and Kuroo pushes the branches of the bush to the side. There’s a note, scribbled and crossed out like the scamp that hid this couldn’t think of anything clever to write as a congratulations for finding their treasure. Kuroo reaches out to grab it, just as a flashlight is shone in his face. His hand recoils to cover his eyes and he reaches out to grab Shoyou, the flashlight turning upwards to reveal Futakuchi’s face.

“It’s only me. What are you two doing back here?” Futakuchi asks with an eyebrow quirked and Kuroo lowers his hand.

“Nothing. Shoyou was looking for a ball that he kicked over here.”

“Is that so? You two should be inside, that karasu-tengu attacked again and he might come back tonight,” Futakuchi warns and Kuroo tilts his head to the side.

“And what are you doing out?”

Futakuchi smiles. “I like to do some running when it gets cool. I used to do a lot of sports back in high schoo. Track and weight-lifting, stuff like that. It’s the only thing I can do around here to keep from getting bored,” Futakuchi groans and gestures with his flashlight. “Do you want me to help you look for his ball?”

Kuroo takes hold of Shoyou’s hand. “Nah, we’ll look when the sun is out. Have fun with your late-night run,” Kuroo says with a forced smile and Futakuchi just nods his head. Kuroo casually turns on his heel and pockets the inro without Futakuchi noticing. He tugs Shoyou along back towards the inn, Shoyou looking up at Kuroo curiously.

“What’s wrong?” he asks and Kuroo glances down at him.

“Nothing. I just don’t want him asking what we’re doing. It’s a secret investigation,” Kuroo states simply and Shoyou nods his head.

“Um, Kuroo?”

“Yeah?”

Shoyou’s ears are red and he mumbles his question: “Can we still snoop around together?”

Kuroo smiles. “Sure. Let’s snoop around Noya’s place again.”

* * *

 

By the time everyone returns to the inn after looking for Kageyama, it’s near midnight. Shoyou falls asleep on Kuroo’s futon and Kuroo watches over him until Bokuto, Oikawa, and Daichi enter the room. Their faces are tired and Daichi looks especially drained, Kuroo getting up to allow Daichi to take a seat.

“What happened with you? Did you find Kageyama-kun?”

“There was a note stuck on Takeda’s door,” Bokuto murmurs and Daichi breathes in deeply.

“The karasu-tengu took Kageyama.”


End file.
